The Scholarship
by Sopphires
Summary: When Kurt is chased out of McKinley he runs to Dalton Academy, but the private school is expensive and even with the extra money from Burt and Carole's honeymoon, they can't cover the cost of tuition. There is one way, though, for Kurt to get in, but that means winning a scholarship off the black-haired, hazel eyed Warbler Kurt is pretty sure he just fell for. Rated T for swearing
1. First Impressions

_**Dear Readers,**_

_**Before you start this it would probably be a good idea if you read this first. This story takes place in a sort of AU world in which Kurt never spied on Dalton or met Blaine, previously. He does get kissed by Karofsky (though if you want to find out how that confrontation takes place you'll have to read on) and he's going to Dalton for safety. Unfortunately, they can't cover the costs of the tuition even with the honeymoon money. Also, Sebastian is in this story and Blaine is a Junior like Kurt because I was never convinced that he was a year younger than him. **_

_**Disclaimers: Glee is the property of FOX and any songs used belong to their rightful owners.**_

_**Enjoy the story!**_

_**Sopphires.**_

* * *

**The Scholarship **

**Pilot: First Impressions**

* * *

_He threatened to kill me. I did the right thing. I'm doing the right thing. I'm going to be safe at this new school. He threatened to kill me. I didn't out him, either, that gives me the upper hand, right? _

"Are you alright, Mr Hummel?" Kurt blinked and looked up at the Headmaster of Dalton Academy. He nodded, mutely. He'd been so deep in thought that the last part of the conversation had passed straight over his head, and he didn't quite trust himself to speak. Burt laid a hand on his shoulder.

"It's alright, son, he can't get to you here." the Headmaster - Mr Hammonds - gave him a concerned look.

"I know this must all be a bit overwhelming, but you're quite safe at Dalton, Kurt." Kurt nodded.

"Right."

"Now, Mr Hummel, I understand that your situation is desperate, and I understand that you need to get your son out of that school as soon as possible, but I'm afraid that you simply _cannot_ cover the tuition, and I can't just let him in, no matter how much I want to." Burt Hummel shared a distressed look with his new wife.

"Is there no other way?" asked Carole, leaning forward and shaking her head in desperation. "Scholarships, or something? Kurt's a bright kid, and he's a _very_ talented singer." Kurt allowed the corner of his mouth to twitch in gratification at Carole's compliment.

_There's somebody else who's got your back. She's looking after you, not just because she's married your dad, but because she cares._

"Yeah, man, you should _totally_ hear Kurt's voice…it's _epic_." Kurt snorted to himself. He had been unsure why his dad had brought Finn along, but it was nice to have him there, finally looking out for him. Mr Hammonds sighed.

"I would _love_ to do that, as well, but we only have a certain amount of scholarships…and they've all been given away."

"Are you sure there's nothing you can do?" Carole's hand tightened in Burt's in nervousness and anticipation. Hammonds sat back in his chair, clearly thinking.

"Give me a second, I might be able to figure something out for you." Kurt could still feel panic and fear swirling through his chest, but he could also feel a strange feeling of comfort. This man, who barely knew him, was doing what he could to get Kurt into Dalton.

_Looks like it's not time to give up on the human race, then. He's trying to get you to a safe place, he doesn't even seem to care that you have zero references. Though, I bet I could get Mr Schue to write me one, maybe even Coach Sylvester. That would be good._

* * *

"…I am _telling_ you, Blaine, it's totally _not_ cool." Blaine kept laughing as he made his way down the stairs with Nick and Jeff.

"I think you deserve it." said Flint casually. "It serves you right for winding David up." Nick pulled a face, and Blaine laughed some more. Jeff poked him in the ribs.

"_Stop laughing_, Blaine, it was _so_ humiliating. I genuinely thought Mr Earl was going to lob my head off." Blaine doubled up, clutching onto the banister and almost dropping his books. Flint relieved him of them, and jumped at the appearance of Thad, the Warbler Councillor had been waylaid by the students asking for high-fives.

"Well, nice of you to join us Mr Popular." Thad bestowed a withering look upon his friend, and Flint just smirked back at him.

"Where did you disappear off to?" asked Nick as they entered the cafeteria.

"Luc… wanted to t-talk to… us."

"Us?"

"Me, David, Wes." they joined the queue, grabbing trays and cutlery.

"Where _is_ David?" demanded Blaine, craning his neck and looking for the other Warbler Councillor in their year.

"T-talking to W-Wes." there were eye rolls by the boys, knowing just how much David idolised Wes.

"Why don't they just get engaged and have done with it." said Flint as he spooned some lasagne onto his plate, and then Nick's to make sure the understudy soloist ate. Jeff and Thad eyed their best friend and sort-of-cousin-but-it-was-_epically_-complicated-so-they-were-just-god-brothers, respectively. The group of Juniors laughed, and moved away to a clear table.

Halfway through their meal they saw Wes enter, with a couple of Senior friends and David. David smiled and waved goodbye to Wes, walking over to join the others. He took a seat, and pulled his lunch from his bag. The gluten, lacto, meat, nut, legume and berry free meal looked particularly unappetising after it had been squished between his Algebra II and Biological Science textbook.

"That looks _gross_!" commented Jeff, scrunching his nose up in disgust. David eyed his meal apprehensively.

"Yeah…I agree." He picked up the special bread and bit it. His nose wrinkled at the taste of soggy lettuce.

"What's_ in_ there?" asked Flint, curiously.

"Tuna and lettuce, I think." Blaine raised an eyebrow.

"I think I'll stick with the shepherds pie, thanks."

"I wasn't offering." at that moment, as they began to laugh together again, the doors at the other end of the cafeteria, only used by the Head boy and staff, flew open and Sebastian ran in. He through a wink at Blaine as he passed their table, and then slid in next to Wes. Blaine turned red. Nick elbowed him in the ribs whilst the others smirked

"Looks like someone's got bitten by the love bug." said Jeff in a sing song voice. Thad snorted over his lunch, and Flint choked on his potato. As David was whacking him on the back, Hammonds walked into the cafeteria. The pupils surged to their feet, and Hammonds smiled at them all.

"Take a seat boys." he said, and they all sat back down. Kurt looked at the well-behaved, well dressed boys in the cafeteria. Finn's mouth dropped open at the sight of them giving their Principal that much respect. Burt raised his eyebrows and looked at Carole, she smiled encouragingly.

_They're so…respectful. I've never seen any high school student treat their teachers with such respect, and the way they're talking. There's no shouting, no screaming, no pushing. No trays slamming into faces of the 'un-cool' kids. There are even boys studying at their tables!_

"Come this way." said Hammonds, beckoning Kurt and his family towards a table occupied six boys that Kurt reckoned was his own age. His eyes skimmed over the group, noting that there was one blonde, one African-American, one with light brown hair and the other three had dark brown-black hair. Kurt found his eyes drawn to just one of these. He had gelled hair that was obviously normally curly, that was parted on the left. His hazel eyes were shinning with mirth. He looked up at the headmaster, trying to straighten his face, but Kurt liked his smile; it was warm and friendly. Kurt could feel his heart beating faster, and a flurry of butterflies seemed to be set loose when he met the boys eyes and he smiled at him.

_Oh my god! He is…beautiful! Oh my god! How can that be? I better not be…yep I'm gone. Good God, I'm such a sucker for a pretty face. How did this even happen? One smile, and I've…yep. It's those eyes. I- God it's like he can read my mind. _

"This is Kurt Hummel. He's a prospective student. Can he eat lunch with you?" the boys looked at each other before shrugging.

"Of course." one of the other boys, he had brown hair and rather square forehead, gestured to the empty seat next to him.

_Oh god! It's diagonal to __**his**__! _

"This is his step-brother, Finn, he's not prospective…he's just here for support.

_No way. Oh __**hell**__ to the no (as Mercedes would say)! He can't sit next to…oh god, he just did!_

Finn sank down next to Blaine and extended his hand.

"Finn Hudson." Kurt sat down, watching his step-brother and the beautiful boy he was certain he had just fallen for.

"Blaine Anderson." they shook hands, and then Blaine extended his to Kurt. Kurt felt his heart stop beating as he touched the soft hands of _Blaine Anderson_. He noted that three boys, the black one, the blonde one and a boy with dark hair done in the same style as the blonde's, were all laughing under their breaths. Blaine rolled his eyes. "These are Flint." the one sitting next to him. "David." the black one. "Jeff." the blonde one. "Nick." the one with the copied hairstyle. "and Thad." the only one who hadn't said or done anything nodded last.

An uneasy quiet sunk over the boys, and they all ate awkwardly except for Finn and Kurt who had no food. Finn beat out a pattern on his legs, and Kurt sat, ramrod straight, staring at Blaine. He was disheartened to see that, after introducing the others, Blaine didn't seem inclined to make conversation with him, or Finn. The other boys began talking about Dalton stuff; lessons, sports teams…and the Warblers.

"We're gonna crush you." said Finn, suddenly, after listening to their conversation for a little longer. Kurt groaned, going pink at Finn's words, as the others, including _Blaine_, looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Finn…"

"Why'd you say that?" demanded Nick.

"Finn Hudson," muttered Thad. "_Of course_!" all the Warblers looked at him, as if shocked that he'd spoken. "Male lead… New Directions," he added by way of explanation. He extended his hand to Finn and Finn shook it, enthusiastically.

"We're all Warblers." added Blaine, as Finn shook the hands of the other boys at the table.

"That's cool. We're looking forward to competing…we've never gone up against an a cappella choir before."

"We've heard that you're a pretty…_varying_ choir…you like to shake things up." Finn nodded.

"Yeah, you could say that, right Kurt?" Finn turned to his step-brother, keen to bring him into the conversation, too. Kurt nodded.

"You're in the choir too?" asked Flint. Kurt nodded.

"Yeah." there was an awkward pause as the group of Seniors made their way over.

"David, we're going out, you wanna come?" David nodded.

"Yeah…'course."

"Blaine, you wanna come too?" Blaine looked up at Sebastian who was leaning against the table. He glanced around, temptation written all over his face. He glanced once at Kurt, who could feel his heart leap. It then sank further as Blaine nodded.

"Yeah…but, I can't stay long…I'll need to be back." Sebastian nodded.

"Of course." he extended a hand to Blaine which Blaine accepted.

"See you around Nick, Jeff, Flint…Thad." Thad nodded and waved at the other boys as they left. The moment they were gone he pushed his meal away. Nick took one look at him and pushed it back. They were soon engaged in a childish fight, shoving the plate between them.

"So…" said Jeff turning to Kurt. "what do you think of Dalton?" Kurt shrugged, tearing his eyes away from Blaine as he left with the others.

"I don't know, I haven't seen very much. I really need to come, but…"

"It's expensive?" guessed Flint, half watching Nick and Thad attempting to stuff food into each others' mouths. Kurt had also caught the peculiar scene, and Finn had raised eyebrows.

"Yeah…what are they doing?" Jeff, who was downing his water in large gulps, wiped his mouth.

"Getting the other to eat." Kurt looked between them, and guessed that this was something personal, and normal as one of the passing boys steadied Nick's shoulders, and allowed Thad to stuff the fork into Nick's mouth. Finn opened his mouth, clearly ready to question that, but then decided to not bother.

"Are you coming to lessons?" asked Flint picking at his pasta. Kurt shrugged, shaking his head.

"I don't think so…Mr Hammonds is trying to get a scholarship sorted for me."

"_Scholarship_?" said Jeff choking on a piece of cake. "He's trying to get you a _scholarship_?"

"What of it?" said Kurt, defensively, crossing her arms across his chest. "Just because I can't afford this place doesn't mean I don't deserve to be here?"

"Whoa!" said Jeff, holding his hands up in surrender. "Calm down! I just meant that it's practically _impossible_ to get a scholarship mid-term, especially as no one has left." Kurt took a deep breath.

_Okay, let's calm down. He didn't mean to attack you, he was just making a point that you didn't let him finish. You're also snappy because you've just fallen head-over-heels for some boy and he's got a boyfriend or some sort of love interest._

"Oh, right, I'm sorry…I just…people kind of…"

"You…you don't need… to explain." said Thad gently, seemingly stumbling over the beginning of the sentence, having eaten half of what was on his plate, and again he received bemused looks from the remaining Warblers. "If you've… been b-bullied then..." he seemed to struggle for the right words, and Nick took over.

"Just tell us if there's something, you know like a topic of conversation, you want us to avoid." there was a pause in which Finn rose an eyebrow, and Kurt smiled in gratitude.

"Um, okay, thank you." the boys nodded.

"Kurt, Finn, would you like to come with me?" Hammonds had stood up, he surveyed the table. "Where's Blaine?"

"He went with _Sebastian_." Hammonds 'hmmed' under his breath at Flint's response.

"Right, good, good. Just make sure he makes it to my office on time."

"Sir." he stared at the two boys, and Kurt and Finn got to their feet. Kurt glanced down at the boys who looked ready to jump into a discussion of their own. He sighed to himself, following Finn, his dad and Carole away.

_I guess that, like every school, Dalton's got it's cliques. Looks like I just meant some of the popular kids, if what Hammonds said about the Warblers was true; if anyone are the "it" crowd it's them. _

* * *

"Come on, we'll never make it if you don't hurry." Blaine shared an excited look with David. The two of them broke into a run, rounding the corner of the accommodation buildings, and over the river that cut through the grounds. They stopped as they reached the wooded area that marked the end of Dalton grounds. Blaine could feel his heart beating like crazy. Both him and David had been hanging around with Wes and Sebastian since they'd been orientated by them when they came, but they'd never been invited to their hideout before today.

"Need a hand up?" Sebastian was in one of the lower branches, and Blaine gladly took hold of the proffered hand, allowing himself to be pulled up to Sebastian's level. David was energetically pulling himself up towards the others.

"Will you stay next to me?" asked Blaine in a faint voice. Sebastian nodded.

"I'll be right beside you," he whispered, soothingly. "trust me." Blaine nodded, and followed Sebastian's lead up the tree.

"Welcome to the tree house." It was built across several flattened branches, spanning four trees. Blaine's mouth fell open, and he gawped at the seniors.

"You_ made _this?" he said, examining the wooden walls that were plastered with pictures, and the rug covered floor. Wes checked his watch.

"We only have a couple of minutes, but we thought you'd want a look before you were initiated."

"_Initiated_!" exclaimed David, glancing at his idol with wide eyes. Wes smiled, gently, and put an arm around his shoulder.

"It's _nothing_, David, you'll be _fine_." Blaine looked at Sebastian, squeezed his hand.

"All that stuff about Dalton we've been teaching you…it's all been leading up to _this_. You are going to be amazing, and you're going to carry it on for us." Blaine nodded.

"Okay…I'll do it." Sebastian smiled at him.

"Thank you, Blaine. Thank you."

"We need to go." said Liam, hand combing his blonde hair over. Wes nodded.

"Come on, David." the two of them headed down, out of the tree house, followed by Liam and the others.

"Blaine, wait a second." Blaine turned back to Sebastian.

"Can't it wait, Bastian, I have to go. Hammonds wanted me in his office." Sebastian beckoned him towards him, and Blaine felt himself pulled into his personal space.

"It won't take long." Sebastian took one of his hands and curled their fingers together. "Did I mention that you were beautiful?" Blaine felt his jaw slacken, and his cheeks heat up. He lost all power of speech.

"Um…yeah…I mean…no…I mean…I just…I…you…" Sebastian began to laugh, and Blaine could feel himself almost swooning over the sound of it.

"I'll take that to mean that the compliment was well received.." Blaine nodded mutely, watching Sebastian's face, which was smirking slightly. He straightened Blaine's tie and smoothed his collar. "You look good in a suit and tie." with a final wink he left the tree house, leaving Blaine red faced and flustered in the tree house. He waited there until he was sure that his legs wouldn't give way part way down, before hurrying down, seeing Sebastian waiting for him. Sebastian offered his hand to him. Blaine took it, and they ran towards Dalton.

* * *

"Blaine, good of you to join us." Blaine looked, sheepishly, at Hammonds as he slipped inside his office.

"I'm sorry, sir, I was, um…distracted." Hammonds raised an eyebrow.

"Yes…I'm aware, please be _discreet_ Blaine, you know the rules." Blaine nodded, his face which Kurt noticed had already been quite pink, flushed completely scarlet.

"Yes…sorry. Oh, hello Kurt, Finn." he nodded at the two boys and moved to a corner. Hammonds was staring at Blaine with an intent expression, and Kurt was beginning to feel uncomfortable. There was something being said between them, that none of the Hummel-Hudsons weren't meant - or able - to understand.

"Now, Blaine, this is Kurt."

"Yes, I-"

"He's been bullied." Blaine looked at Kurt, and Kurt tried to fight the flush that was creeping into his face as he was studied by those _beautiful_ eyes. It saddened him, that they dimmed after a second. He offered Kurt a sad smile that still seemed to act like a vice on his heart, constricting it and making functioning impossible.

"I'm sorry…so was I…that's how I ended up here." he glanced around the office, and Kurt wondered why Blaine's eyes didn't meet his. "Are you coming here because of that?" Kurt met his eyes, breath hitching, and nodded.

"Yes…at least I want to." Blaine frowned, before turning to Hammonds.

"Sir?" Hammonds sighed.

"Mr Hummel cannot cover the costs…he needs a scholarship." Blaine frowned.

"Oh…are you good at singing, academics…_sport_?" Kurt snorted at the idea of sport, and got the impression that Blaine didn't think he was a sports person, but had said it just to be polite and non-judgemental.

"My academics are good, but singing is really my thing." Blaine nodded, an uncomfortable look settling across his face.

"I see."

"Blaine?" Blaine looked up at Hammonds, a torturous expression passing across his features. "I know I should _never_ be asking you to do this, but…" Blaine shook his head, furiously.

"Sir, I would _love_ to, but dad…he'd _never_ let me…you know." Hammonds nodded.

"Naturally, of course. I was just _hoping_…I never wanted to do this, but I was thinking of asking Luc…" Blaine felt like he'd been stung, he leapt to his feet. Kurt stared at him, wondering what was going on. What was Hammonds asking him to do? Blaine took a couple of steps towards the door, and Kurt looked at him with pleading eyes. Kurt wasn't sure why, but he knew Blaine was the only way he could get into Dalton Academy, and Kurt _needed_ Dalton. Blaine shook his head at Kurt, and Kurt felt his father stiffen.

"What's going on?" he demanded, looking between Hammonds, Kurt, and Blaine. Hammonds sighed, leaning forward.

"Blaine is the only student at Dalton with a merit based scholarship…the others have them because of financial reasons…Blaine has it because he is an _exceptional_ singer." Kurt could tell that his father was getting angry, and Blaine just kept shaking his head.

"Sir, I'd give it up in a _heart beat_-" Kurt's own heart leapt at that. "-but my father _won't_! After mum, and Cooper he thinks that, well he'd just never, you know…" Blaine sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. Hammonds nodded.

"Of course, I should have known that if it was down to you…" Kurt let the silence hang between them, feeling uncomfortable.

_At least he __**wanted**__ to give it to you. At least he wanted to help you. Now, it looks like you're going to have to battle him for it. Whether I have tumbled head first in love with Blaine or not, I can't __**not**__ get into Dalton. I need to come here. Dalton's my only hope._

"I guess then I have no choice but to ask Luc to get you to audition for it, again." Blaine nodded, swiftly. Kurt could see the heartbroken look in his eyes. Kurt opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't find the words.

"Okay, sir, that's fine." Hammonds nodded.

"Thank you, Blaine." the dark haired boy shrugged.

"Is that all, sir, it's just that I'm missing English…" Hammonds' face fell into a relaxed expression, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Well then, I shan't detain you." Blaine smiled, nodding at the Hummel-Hudsons, he left.

"Thank you, sir." said Carole, the moment the door closed. Hammonds shook his head.

"I shouldn't have bothered asking him, I forgot that, quite naturally, his father would be in charge of this kind of thing. He's quite happy to loose it fair and square, though…if you're very lucky, he might just go easy on you." Kurt smirked.

_Go easy on me? Bring it on full force, I could take him no problem. _

* * *

Kurt buckled up the seat belt in Burt's car. He was next to Finn who had taken out his iPod, and was busy inserting his headphones into his ears, no doubt preparing for the two hour drive back to their house. Kurt sighed, and sank into his seat, knowing that when they hit the road his dad was going to start talking about Dalton, and the audition and _Blaine_.

"So, what did you think of the school?" it wasn't the question Kurt had been expecting, and he shifted slightly.

"Um…it looks _amazing_. The architecture was just-"

"_Kurt_, I meant the students." Kurt pause, thinking back to lunch time.

"They seemed okay, I mean…" he shrugged. "Yeah, they seemed nice."

"Just nice?" asked Carole, twisting around in her seat to speak to him better. Burt kept glancing at him through the rear-view mirror. Kurt nodded.

"Yeah…they were all Warblers, and they seemed kind of…they told me if there was a topic of conversation that I wanted to avoid then I should just tell them…they were _understanding_." Burt nodded.

"You didn't seem your normal self, though, Finn looked like he was doing more talking than you." Kurt shrugged.

"I don't know…I just…"

_It was kind of scary being there. It was __**their**__ ground…I was completely at their mercy, if they'd wanted to do anything I'd have been powerless. At least at McKinley I'd have some form of escape route…I'd be hopelessly lost at Dalton. _

"Kurt?" Kurt smiled at Carole.

"It was just a bit _intimidating_. I think they meant to be nice, but they kind of acted half like I wasn't there, you know? It was like they didn't really _care_ that I was there or not…" Burt frowned, his facial expression tightening in displeasure. Carole sat back into her seat.

"I'm sure it's _nothing_, from the way it looked the Mr Hammonds rather _dropped_ you and Finn onto their table, they probably weren't sure what to do." Kurt nodded.

"Yeah…that makes sense."

"What are you going to do for your audition?" Kurt pause, tilting his head to the side in though.

"I'm not sure…"

_Maybe I'll consult Rachel, this is the kind of occasion she'd have the perfect song for. It's almost as important an occasion as my NYADA audition will be. This school could save me. I can't screw this up. I have to be at my best. _

"Well, I'm sure you'll be _amazing_!" Kurt smiled at Carole.

"Thank you, but I always am." Burt let out a hearty chuckle, and Finn looked between them all in confusion, the Dashboard Confessionals music, turned up _too loud_, having deafened him to their conversation. Kurt plucked the iPod from his fingers.

"_Oi_!" Calmly, Kurt unlocked it and turned down the volume on click wheel, before relocking it and chucking it back.

"You're going to be deaf by thirty." he said, and Finn rolled his eyes, crossing his arms across his chest and sinking lower in his chair. Kurt smirked, and pulled out his own iPod.

_I'm gonna make it into Dalton. I'm gonna find a song in my extensive, amazing, library, and I'm gonna knock their socks off. Then this __**Luc**__ will __**have to**__ give me the scholarship…and when I'm at Dalton I can make things up with Blaine, and just maybe I'll actually get a boyfriend. _

* * *

Blaine was never sure why he roomed with Thad, but he knew that he liked it, a lot. His roommate, who barely spoke, allowed him to do whatever he wanted in, and always listened if Blaine needed some time to vent, or just someone to help him sort out what he was feeling. Thad was also non-judgemental, which meant that, if Blaine felt the overwhelming need to sing Katy Perry at the top of his voice, or quote Harry Potter for a day, he'd never be mocked or teased for it. It allowed him to make his room a sanctuary, and he appreciated it. Even when he'd find Thad's socks in the most _unlikely_ places, he still never regretted taking Hammonds' advice to share a room.

So, right now, with Kurt and Sebastian clogging his mind, he definitely needed someone to unload onto, and there was Thad working away at his desk.

"Hey Thad." Blaine swung down onto the bed, lying on his front and staring up his friend. Thad held up a finger, scribbled down something onto the piece of paper he was working on, put the lid on his pen, and, throwing that onto the table, turned to face Blaine.

"Y-Yes?"

"I'm getting such…I dunno, from Sebastian!" Thad's features didn't change. He just nodded, slowly, and waited for Blaine to continue. Blaine took a deep breath. "It's like, he's _always_ flirting with me and telling me I'm beautiful, or whatever, but he's never even _suggested_ going out!" Blaine groaned in annoyance as Thad just stared at him, "and Hammonds wants me to give up my scholarship." this time the eyebrows flickered upwards in disbelief, before returning to normal.

"To-to-to Kurt?" Blaine nodded, ignoring Thad's more prominent stammer.

"Yeah…to Kurt." Thad tilted his head slightly, and Blaine knew that he could sense that there was more Blaine wanted to say. "And it's like, I wanna give it to him 'cause, like, he's being bullied, and he looks so kind of, I dunno, _sad_…but at the same time, I kinda…I don't _need_ the scholarship, but dad…you know what he'd be like if I lost it!" Blaine rolled onto his back, staring at his now upside down friend imploringly.

"Why do you…what…what do you…need?" Blaine frowned, propping himself up. He stared at Thad, wondering what was causing him to stutter and pause so much in _Blaine's_ presence. Then he sighed, stuff like that just _happened_ with Thad.

"I don't know whether I should-" Blaine was cut off by the door flying open, and his other friends coming.

"Hey there Blainey!" said David, flopping down next to him. "What did Hammonds want?" Blaine sighed, turning to face Flint, Nick, Jeff and David.

"He wanted to me to give my scholarship to Kurt." mouths dropped open around the group.

"Seriously?" said Nick, raising his eyebrows in plain disbelief. "He thinks your dad would just let you _give it up_!" Blaine shrugged.

"I think he forgot…then he realised, and so now we have to battle it out in front of Luc." the other Warblers looked at each other, contemplatively.

"Look, unless that kid is _Amazing_ there's _no way_, he's getting it off you." Blaine smiled at Flint.

"Cheers, but…I was thinking, should I bomb it?" the boys looked scandalised.

"_Blaine_!" said David. "You can't "bomb it"!" Blaine frowned.

"Why not?"

"_Warblers_! We need _you_ to be the lead, we can't if you throw it away in front of _Luc_!" Blaine sighed, not having thought of that before. He bit the inside of his mouth, and the others frowned in thought.

"Could we postpone it, the audition, thing, until _after_ Sectionals?" asked Jeff after a couple of minutes. Blaine looked up at him, eyes lighting up.

"_Yes_! Sectionals is this week, after all."

"B-b-but what…abbbout Kurt?" all eyes in the room flitted to Thad, most of them puzzled or shocked.

"What's up with you?" asked Nick. Thad swallowed and shrugged.

"He makes a good point, though." Thad smiled, gratefully, at Flint who just nodded in return. "If Kurt's being bullied than we need to get him somewhere safe…and Dalton's safe." they all fell silent again, pondering the dilemma until something sparked inside of Nick's eyes.

"Get Wes and Sebastian to Hammonds' office, I have a brilliant idea."

* * *

_Just stay calm. Karofsky can't get at you whilst you're in a car, if comes towards you, you just drive off. God damn it! Why the hell is Rachel still inside of McKinley? Just keep your head down, Kurt, just keep hidden until- YES! There he goes, just wait until…he's out of sigh_.

Kurt watched Karofsky drive off, with some of his jock friends, no doubt to get a McDonalds or something, and hopped out of his car. He brushed off his clothes, and snatched up his portable CD player. He needed to get Rachel's opinion on the songs he was thinking of doing because if anyone could give him constructive criticism, it would be her. Annoying diva or not, Rachel had a good voice, and her taste in music was similar to Kurt's which meant she was likely to have already sung the songs he was thinking of.

"Hello." he snuck into the auditorium, having made his way nervously down the halls. Rachel jumped, a hand flying to her heart, before she turned to see Kurt.

"Oh, Kurt." she rolled her eyes and moved over to hug him. Kurt gratefully embraced the small diva, after putting down the CD player. She looked him up and down. "I was expecting to see Dalton uniform on you…not the clothes you left in." Kurt sighed, moving over to lean on the piano.

"We had a problem…" Rachel raised an eyebrow, going to stand opposite him. "Even with the money from the honeymoon, we _still_ couldn't cover the tuition fees." Rachel clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Oh no! What are you going to do now?" Kurt sighed, dramatically, and looked at her.

"Well, Mr Hammonds - the headmaster - has offered me the chance to get a scholarship." Rachel's eyes fell on the CD player, and a smile slipped onto her lips.

"Oh, I see, you have to audition for it." Kurt rolled if eyes.

"If only it were _that_ easy. No, I have to sing for it against the boy who is the _only_ person at Dalton with merit based scholarship." Rachel frowned. "It means he doesn't have the scholarship because of the money…it's because he's _amazing_." Kurt could feel his heart just beat a little bit faster at the thought of Blaine. He wondered what his voice sounded like, was it as smooth, and silky, as how he spoke? Would it soothe Kurt in the same way?

"Kurt." Kurt snapped out of his haze, and noted that Rachel was smirking at him. "So, what's he like?" Kurt frowned at her, suspiciously, and she threw her hands up. "You _obviously_ like him…you got that dreamy look on your face." Kurt flushed.

"Okay, I _barely_ know him, like, not at all actually, but…I don't know!" he groaned. "What's happened to me?" he demanded. "It was like I took _one look_ into those hazel eyes and I…I just _fell_!" Rachel smiled, reaching across the piano she patted Kurt's hand.

"Is he gay?" Kurt nodded.

"Yeah…well, he hasn't _said it_, but he said that he moved to Dalton because he was bullied…and I think he likes somebody." Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"Who?" Kurt shrugged.

"Just some guy who came over and asked him if he wanted to go somewhere, and he said yes." Rachel frowned.

"What he was like, this guy?" Kurt shrugged.

"I dunno…brown haired…"

"Was he hot?" Kurt paused, having not considered it before.

"I…yeah, I guess he kind of was…but he wasn't _beautiful_, not like Blaine." Kurt looked back at Rachel and noted that she was biting the inside of her cheek, clearly hiding a smirk.

"You've got it _so_ bad." she said, shaking her head. "But, you can't let a boy - no matter how _beautiful_ - stand in your way of getting into Dalton. So-" she clapped her hands together in a business like manner. "-what were you thinking of singing?" Kurt smiled, rubbing his hands together.

_Whatever relationship we had when we were in New Directions, it looks like Rachel is someone I can count on…I should probably call Mercedes, though. She looked kind of upset. No, wait, got to stay focused…when I'm safe and in Dalton, I can make things up with her._

"Alright, well, I was thinking - because I want to showcase _all_ of my voice - either _Defying Gravity _or _My Heart Will Go On_." Rachel looked at him critically.

"Can you hit the high note in _Defying Gravity_?" Kurt raised an eyebrow imperiously.

"Yes, I can, and if you must know, I threw it away for my dad…because of what people were saying." Rachel nodded, once.

"Well, then, I guess that would be quite a showstopper. I wouldn't do _My Heart Will Go On_, you want something more _powerful_ than that." she sighed for a moment before her eyes lit up. "I have _the perfect_ alternative." Kurt felt a smile spread across his face as she moved over to the player, and began to flick through the songs.

_I knew I did the right thing coming here. For better, or for worse, it looks like the New Directions still have my back…and if I go up against them at Sectionals, well, I'll sing for them, and for all the times that we've shared together..._

* * *

**Next Time- Surprise: Kurt gets an unexpected offer from Dalton Academy, and starts to see that there's far more to the Academy than first appeared. Whilst a phone call from out of the blue forces Blaine to rethink his previous decisions…**


	2. Surprise

**The Scholarship**

**Episode 2: Surprise**

_Okay, so it's 6:30 am, I should be doing my moisturising routine, or sleeping. I shouldn't be sitting in the back of dad's car, on my way to Westerville, again. My hands, also, shouldn't be shaking, and why oh why, did I not do my hair this morning? I am a __**mess**__, and if it's my audition today I am __**screwed**__! _

"…and so I told work that I would be in late, I said it was family emergency…they're not too bothered seeing as they thought I was going to be away anyway." Burt nodded along to what Carole was saying, his eyes flickering to Kurt who was staring out of the window, headphones trailing from his ears.

"Alright there, Kurt?" Kurt blinked, looking up into the reflection of his father's concerned eyes. Kurt, with a sigh, reached up and pulled out his headphones.

"What?"

"Are you alright?" Kurt nodded.

"Yeah…I'm just- I hope the audition isn't today, because I'm totally _not_ ready." Carole frowned.

"You sounded amazing last night." Kurt gave her a smile, and shrugged.

"Thanks, but…I'm not sure that I'm good _enough_. From the sounds of it Blaine is _amazing_, and if can't beat him…" Burt's hands flexed on the steering wheel.

"He ought to go easy on you, it's not like he _needs_ the scholarship; you do." Kurt nodded.

"Yeah, but…"

_Imagine how that would look, reputation wise, if he lost his scholarship? What's the betting, if he's that good, that he's the lead Warbler singer? I know I'd never __**ever**__ want to be upstaged like that, besides he doesn't know about the death threat, he might just think that people are just teasing me…if only. _

"Kurt, honey, it'll be fine." Kurt nodded, taking out his phone which was beginning to buzz.

_Rachel said that you were having problems getting into Dalton. Are you okay?- M_

Kurt smiled at Mercedes' text. He'd half expected some accusatory rant about how he should have come to her about this kind of thing. He was glad that he got this instead. He took a deep breath, leaning back into his seat, and typed out a response.

_Yeah, just need to get a scholarship- K_

Kurt frowned at his own response. He'd made it sound really casual, easy. Why was he hiding all this from Mercedes? Mercedes was his _best friend_, the _first_ person who he'd just _told_ that he was gay, though he realised that most people would have guessed anyway.

_Scholarship! Are you going to have to do a load or tests or something? How much time will this take?-M_

He allowed himself a small smile at her response, acknowledging that he probably should have been more explicit with what it had been.

_No, I need to sing…it's complicated but I basically have to win it off this other boy- K_

He didn't like labelling Blaine was "this other boy" but he was more concerned with the fact that he didn't _feel_ like telling Mercedes about how he felt about Blaine. This was the kind of thing that they'd do, as best friends…discuss crushes - they'd always been celebrities - and their dream weddings and so forth. He wondered, vaguely, if it had something to do with _the kiss_.

_Oh! You mean your new crush, right?-M_

Kurt felt his heart freeze for a second. "New crush". How did she- oh, Rachel. Kurt frowned at the screen. Exactly how much did Mercedes know?

_Yeah, him.-K_

Kurt had to wait a long time for Mercedes to text him back. He sat there, staring at the screen with an intent expression. Both Carole and Burt shot him looks, but, when Burt moved to open his mouth, Carole shook her head and shushed him.

_Why didn't you tell me about this? Why did you go to RACHEL?-M_

Kurt sighed, always knowing that it would be coming to this. Mercedes was hurt that he hadn't been speaking to her about things. That he'd shut her out, but back at McKinley he hadn't really felt like letting her in. He'd seen her deal with her problems, and seen the obvious way out, as opposed to him, seemingly stuck in a never-ending spiral of bullying and fear.

_I don't know…I just needed Rachel's opinion on what I had to sing…it was more her thing than yours.-K_

Again, he had to wait a long time for Mercedes to respond. He really wanted this weird barrier between the two of them to go away, for everything to go back to the way it had been, but at the same time he knew that they were in high school, and as they moved through it their friendships with people were bound to shift and change.

_Oh, okay.-M_

Mercedes' response was too short, and impersonal. Kurt bit the inside of his lip, thinking carefully. Eventually he reached his decision.

_Look, I'm going to Dalton right now, and I don't know when I'll be back, but after school do you wanna meet me at Breadstix and we can hang out and talk?-K_

Kurt crossed his fingers, hoping that she'd accept his offer. Maybe it would be easier to talk things out face to face.

_Alright, I'll hold you to that white boy.-M_

Kurt smiled at the screen, glad to have some of the old Mercedes back.

_I look forward to it already.-K_

There was a longer pause after that text, and Kurt slipped his headphones back in as Carole and Burt began to discuss houses and other such things.

_So, what's this Blaine like? I want ALL the details. And what are you singing?-M_

Kurt smiled, broadly as he tapped out his response. For seven o'clock in the morning this day was turning out to be pretty good.

* * *

"Are you sure this is going to work?" asked David, moodily poking at the fruit salad he was eating for breakfast. Blaine shrugged.

"He seemed pretty on the ball about the whole thing. I think he thinks that it's a great idea…and I can't see why they'd shoot it down."

"Are you gonna flop the audition after?" Blaine shrugged, again, at Nick.

"I might as well…Bastian can handle the Concert…or you could do it Nick."

"Oh _no way_!" said the understudy Warbler. "I am _not_ singing on stage with your boyfriend."

"For the _last time_ he _is not_ my _boyfriend_!"

"Yeah, but you've been flirting with him since you _met_, and that was in _January_ of _Freshman_ year." Blaine turned a little pink and refused to look Jeff in the eyes.

"Where's…Fffflint?"

"What is _up_ with you?" demanded Nick before anyone could answer Thad's question. Thad went a tiny bit red, but he didn't open his mouth again. "You've been _awful_ for the past_ week_." Thad shook his head.

"Nothing." Nick narrowed his eyes at his god-brother, but didn't chase it up.

"You know, wonder-boy here makes a good point, where _is_ Flint?"

'Wonder-boy?' mouthed Blaine. Thad shrugged, and Jeff shook his head. They all looked at Nick. The boy who was busy picking apart the croissant that had been dumped onto his plate by Jeff, looked up.

"What?"

"Where's Flint?" Nick shrugged.

"His parent's called last night." the table winced as one. Blaine stared down at his soggy bowl of cereal, feeling bad for his friend.

"Was it a phone call or a…"

"It was a…you know." David threw down his fork, and walked off. The other blinked, and looked around. Wes had just walked in.

"Um…_what_?" said Jeff, staring between Wes and the seat that David had previously occupied. Blaine sighed, rubbing a hand across his forehead as Sebastian sauntered over.

"Hey guys." he said, sliding onto the bench next to Blaine. Blaine went slightly red as Sebastian angled his body so that his face was almost directly next to Blaine's.

"Hey Sebastian, what happened with Wes and David?" Sebastian raised an eyebrow, glancing at his best friends.

"I don't think anything _happened_, per se…I think it's more what _didn't_ happen." there were more raised eyebrows.

"Are you gonna expand on that?" asked Nick after a pause. Sebastian shook his head, pulling over David's bowl of fruit salad and picking out the pieces of orange from the bowl.

"Thad," the Warbler Councillor who had been very silent since Nick had spoken to him, looked up in surprise.

"Y-yes?" Sebastian eyed him, his gaze shifting to Nick for a brief second as he raised an eyebrow, before he altered his expression again and turning back to Thad.

"Hammonds wants all the Warbler Councillors to be there when we talk Kurt through our proposition." Thad nodded, emphatically, and Sebastian grinned.

"I guess I'll see you, Blaine, very soon." the Head boy leapt up from the table, and gracefully made his way over to Wes and Liam.

"Oh for gods sake." muttered Jeff. "Just go and snog his face off why don't you?" Nick snorted loudly, whilst Blaine turned scarlet, and snapped his mouth shut.

* * *

_Okay, so I'm a little bit worried. On the plus side, I've made things up with Mercedes - I think - but on the downside I'm sitting outside the Headmaster's office, again. I don't know why, but I'm starting to get uneasy. All the other Dalton students have gone into lessons, so what the hell am I doing here? The audition can't be now. _

"You can go in now." Mrs Aarons, who seemed to be the Hammonds' PA and secretary, came up to them. Carole took Burt's hand, and Burt put a hand on Kurt's shoulder, as she opened the door.

Kurt wasn't sure what he'd been expecting when he entered the office, but he sure as hell _hadn't_ been expecting to see David, Thad, some guy he didn't know, Sebastian and _Blaine_ all standing there. Hammonds smiled up at the family, and gestured to the three seats.

"Please, take a seat." Kurt sat down, his father's hand finding his shoulder, and Carole kept Burt's hand intertwined with Burt's.

"Are you going to tell us when this audition is?" demanded Burt, and Kurt felt his heart swell at his father's determination towards getting him into this school. Hammonds nodded.

"Yes, it will be next week."

"_Next week_!" Kurt winced at the explosion of noise that erupted from his father. Carole squeezed his hand a little tighter. She put a restraining hand on his arm, and leant forwards, frowning.

"But, we just can't wait a week…Kurt _can't_ go back to McKinley." Hammonds held up his hands, nodding.

"I know, I know. I haven't finished." Kurt looked up at that, suddenly very interested. "Now, as Sectionals is this week we need our Warblers focused-" Burt made to interrupt but was prevented by Hammonds holding up a hand "-but one of our students, Nick - he's not in the room right now, but Kurt met him yesterday - suggested that Kurt takes this week to…_indoctrinate_ himself into Dalton life. He can stay in one of the houses, experience the lessons…give him a taste of life, as well as giving him more time to prepare." Kurt felt his heart swell slightly at that.

_Oh my god! This school is just… I cannot __**believe**__ that he's given me a week here just to…just because I can't go back to McKinley! And it wasn't even Hammonds' idea, it was __**Nick's**__. I barely know, I __**don't**__ know him, but they seem to __**care**__ about whether or not I'm safe!_

"You'd- you're offering us a week free of charge?" asked Burt, like he could barely believe it either. Carole's eyes had lit up in hope, and Kurt could just feel something unexplainable swelling inside of his chest. So many people _cared_. Suddenly he felt slightly tearful. It was overwhelming.

"Are you okay?" asked the unnamed boy. Kurt looked up at the Dalton boys standing there, sniffing slightly. There was a raised eyebrow from Sebastian at the sight of his watery eyes, some rapid blinking from David, a frown from Blaine and absolutely _nothing_ from Thad. Kurt nodded.

"Yeah…I'm fine, um…"

"Wes." Kurt swallowed, nodding.

"I'm fine, _Wes_." the boy nodded, stepping backwards slightly. Hammonds looked at the boys and then frowned.

"Did you deliver the message to Luc, Sebastian?" Sebastian nodded, curtly.

"Yes sir, I did." Hammonds sighed.

"Thad, go fetch our music director will you." this time Thad nodded curtly, and he exited the room, closing the door gently. Hammonds turned to the family before him again. "If you want, Kurt can start today…I'm sure that between all of Dalton we can find some uniform that will fit your son. However, I must warn you that if you agree to this, Kurt, we will treat you like any other new student at Dalton. We _will_ give you catch-up work, we expect your homework completed, and we expect you to follow the rules set out. Blaine, Sebastian, I expect the two of you to take care of his orientation." both boys nodded, and Kurt's heart skipped a beat when Blaine smiled at him reassuringly. "You'll be in good hands, Sebastian did a fine job of orientating Blaine." Kurt smiled at him.

"Thank you." Hammonds nodded, accepting his gratitude.

"Mr Hummel, do you want to go ahead with-" the door flew open, banging against the wall loudly. A man that couldn't be older than twenty-two came striding in, Thad scuttling behind him, and wincing as door slammed shut. "Ah Luc, nice of you to join us." the boy was tall, Kurt reckoned he was probably 6 and a half feet tall, with red hair that was spiked upwards at the front, and combed down at the back. He was dressed in what looked like grey suit trousers, and a brightly coloured Hawaiian shirt. He had a large, upturned, nose, and sharp green eyes that lingered on Kurt for a couple of seconds before moving on.

"What the hell is going on, and what is up with _him_?" Kurt was expecting to be pointed at, but it was Thad that was on the receiving end of his thumb. Hammonds looked at Thad, one eyebrow raised, and Thad just stared blankly at him.

"There is nothing wrong with "_him_" as you say, and if you're concerned, Luc, you ask the questions. You're here about- weren't you listening to Sebastian last night?" Luc raised an eyebrow.

"No, of course I wasn't. I'm brilliant, I have better things to do than listen Mr "My-father-can-have-you-arrested-over-there"." He jerked a thumb at Sebastian who rolled his eyes. Hammonds looked between them with a tired expression.

"Luc, focus, this is Kurt, and-"

"He's in!" exclaimed Luc instantly, and Kurt was surprised to see the assembled Warblers and Hammonds roll their eyes at once.

"You _can't_ give him a scholarship because he has the same name as one of the von Trapp children!" Kurt blinked in surprise.

_What the hell?_

"But, this means that I'll have _the whole set_!" Hammonds sank his head into his hand. Kurt was confused.

"Um, what?" Luc turned to him, eyebrow raised. "Five of them are girls."

"Nicknames." he said, dismissively, and turned away. "So if it's not up to me, then why am I here?"

"It _is_ up to you, but you have to hear them sing, and choose between Blaine and Kurt." there was a pause in which Luc looked between Blaine and Kurt in shock.

"You're going pit _that_ against Blaine?"

"Yes, is there a problem with that?" Kurt bristled a little with indignation. What did he mean by "that"? He could feel his father stiffen with anger, but Luc just shook his head.

"Well, it'll be entertaining to say the least." Kurt stared at the man as he gave Kurt and his father and Carole a nod before leaving. Hammonds shook his head.

"Someone remind me why I keep him around?"

"Because he's "_brilliant_"." said Wes with a snort.

"He…he…_is_!" said Thad, abruptly, looking indignant on Luc's behalf and Blaine clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"We know, Thad, calm down." Kurt didn't miss the raised eyebrows between Wes and Sebastian, and Hammonds clapped his hands together.

"Okay, let's focus in, you boys keep an eye on him, though, we don't want him to fall off the wagon again."

"That's why I threatened him, I don't do it norm-"

"It's okay, Sebastian, I'd figured that much out for myself." Sebastian nodded, snapping his mouths shut, and rearranging his face into an impassive mask. "So, Mr Hummel, what do you say?" Burt seemed to pause before looking at Kurt. Kurt turned to his father with pleading eyes. However odd Dalton Academy appeared, it was safe and had a zero-tolerance for bullying policy. Burt seemed to crumble, instantly, when he looked into his son's eyes that were _begging_ for him to do this for him.

"Alright, where do I sign?" Kurt let out a sigh of relief, and beamed, especially as the Dalton boys began to applaud him, Blaine flashing him a show-stopping, heart attack inducing, smile.

_Okay, looks like I'm a Dalton boy, for a week at least. Maybe in that time I can get Blaine to look at me- okay, seriously, I've gone __**mad**__. I should focus on getting my head around this school, which is flipping giant, and making some friends, or something, not getting a boyfriend, of all things. Besides…I'm not sure if I'm over __**the kiss**__, yet. _

* * *

"…and this is Franklin." Kurt felt his mouth drop open in shock. They had walked through the beautiful grounds of Dalton, through the corridors with old murals on the walls, and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, into one of the three accommodation buildings. The entrance area had been a small flag-stone floored building with some scattered pieces of sports kit; hockey and lacrosse sticks, football helmets, and various trainers and boots.

Now he was standing, with Sebastian, Blaine and his father and Carole, in the common room of Blaine's house. Like, seemingly, any large space in Dalton there was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The walls were mainly floor to ceiling windows with huge red curtains. There were a collection of sofas, armchairs and tables scattered around of the room of varying sizes and styles. There was a 32" plasma TV in a wall bracket against one of the stone walls, with a DVD and blu-ray player underneath, and what looked like a _huge_ collection of games, and controllers. There were various personal artefacts around the room; books, pens, pencils and assorted bits of casual clothing. The room to the left led into a large kitchen area that had a countertop equipped with kettle, toaster and coffee maker. There was a fridge, and small freezer, and some stools around a small island with a bowl of fruit on top.

"Come on up." the staircase was quite wide, and it was certainly old. Sebastian led the way, with Blaine half a pace behind him. On the first floor Sebastian opened the nearest door, saying it was his. Inside was a giant bedroom, larger than the one Kurt had at home. The bed was positioned in the corner, and opposite it was a large area filled with a mismatched jumble of furniture, and a 24" TV. He had several large bookcases, at the back, and large windows just above his desk that was stacked with textbooks and notepads.

"The bathroom is through there." said Blaine, indicating to a door. "There's a washing machine and tumble dryer…as well as normal stuff."

"And that's the wardrobe." added Sebastian, pointing to the other door. Kurt nodded, noting the general amount of _space_ in the room. Sebastian just had a lot of empty space in his room, and Kurt found it a little, sort of, bare.

"So, all the rooms are like this?" Blaine and Sebastian shook their heads as one.

"No…all rooms are doubles; I'm head boy so I have one to myself." Kurt nodded, before something occurred to him.

"Wait, does this mean I have to _share_?" there was a pause in which the boys looked at each other, something unspoken passing between them, which caused Kurt to straighten his spine in annoyance.

"Well, no." said Blaine, eventually. "but it's recommended, and sometimes you might have to, depending." Kurt nodded.

"And are all the houses like this?" they nodded.

"Yep, they're identical."

"Except the colour scheme changes." said Sebastian, in an almost thoughtful manner. "We got off best; Putnam's colours are just _disgusting_…that shade of yellow…" he broke of shaking his head in disgust. Blaine nodded.

"Yeah, and Harriot's _okay_, but the blue just isn't as nice as the red." Kurt smiled, slightly, glad to know that he wouldn't have to put up with _yellow_ hangings and curtains. "Come on, I'll show you mine and Thad's room." Kurt nodded, and followed Blaine and Sebastian out.

_Oh god, he's freakin' head boy! How the __**hell**__ am I meant to compete with the __**head boy**__? I'm just the new kid that's about to rob him of his scholarship and Sebastian is __**head boy**__, I hadn't even realised that he was older! Though I guess I should have, seeing as he wasn't sitting with Blaine or anything… Hang on, if he doesn't hang out with Blaine that much…maybe they're __**not**__ dating…though either way, head boy! What the hell do I do about that?_

* * *

"It's lunch time, if you're quite finished dressing." Kurt scowled to his reflection as he did up his blazer. Sebastian was _slightly_ taller than him, and definitely _wider_, and so the uniform didn't fit him as well as it could have, but at the same time it was better than wondering around in his own clothes, or ones too small for him. He threw open the door to Blaine's bathroom, and shot Sebastian a withering smile as he came out. The older boy just smirked, and pushed himself off the wall he'd been leaning on. Blaine, who had been reading a book, looked up and smile.

"Hey. How's it fit?" Kurt shrugged, slightly, getting use to the heavy feeling of the blazer on his shoulders.

"Okay, little big." Blaine nodded.

"Yeah…I was kind of expecting that, Bastian is…_broader_ than you." the rest of the sentence was lost on Kurt, though, the only thing registering in his mind was the nick name; _Bastian_. He closed his eyes. He was _so_ screwed.

"I have to go." said Sebastian, abruptly. "I better check that Luc's okay, when I saw him last night he did seem kind of…out it." Blaine looked up at him, his eyes flashing with concern.

"Do you think he's gonna be okay?" Sebastian sent Blaine a genuinely warm smile.

"Luc is _always_ going to _be_ okay, it just might take him a little while to get there." he patted Blaine on the shoulder in a comforting manner, before nodding at Kurt. Kurt watched the way Blaine's eyes followed Sebastian as he left the room. His heart lurched in a sickening manner; even crushing on _Finn_ hadn't been this bad. Blaine leapt out of chair from a burst of energy. He grinned at Kurt.

"Come on, you've got to make it to afternoon less-" he broke off, his phone going. He pulled out the phone, staring at the screen, his eyes seemingly popping out of his head. "Erm…hang on, I just- I kind of need to take this, can you make your way to the cafeteria on your own?" Kurt paused, trying to figure out whether nodding would impress Blaine, or just be a really dumb thing to do. He nodded. Blaine smiled. "Cool, I just." he gestured to the phone again and hurried away. Kurt watched him go with a mildly sinking heart.

_I wonder what it would take for him to look at me with that look he gave Sebastian. That longing. Oh great, now I've just been stupid enough to say I can find my way around this giant, old, school that is absolutely __**beautiful**__! Urgh! I need to get my head sorted out. Hopefully, when dad turns up with my stuff and car, and I drive to Lima to see Mercedes, I can get my mind back onto Plant Earth. I'm sure Mercedes can knock some sense into me, because if she can't then I'm doomed, 100% totally, and utterly, doomed!_

* * *

Blaine wondered down the hallway, hoping that Kurt wasn't being foolish in saying that he could find his way back. When he made his way into the room at the back, that was generally used by people who were suffering from terrible migraines or wanted to pray or mediate, or just needed some quiet time. Flicking the switch to light it up with a soft white glow, and taking a seat on the fluffy white sofa. Nervously, he answered the phone.

"Coop?"

"_Hey there, Blainey, how's it going?"_ Blaine felt his jaw slacken. His heart jumped into his mouth.

"_Coop_! What the _hell_?" he heard a pause on the other end of the line.

"_Erm…sorry, what?"_ Blaine sighed.

"Why are you calling me? You _never_ call me!" he heard Cooper chuckle under his breath.

"_Yeah, well, let's just say I've got a break so I'll be coming home sooner than Christmas."_

"How soon is soon?"

"_I'll be here for your concert."_ Blaine almost fell off the sofa in shock. His mouth dropped open again.

"You're…you're coming to _Sectionals_! You're coming on _Friday_! Oh _Jesus_!"

"_What? No! I'm coming in, like, three weeks, or whatever."_ Blaine felt his heart beat genuinely stop. _Oh crap._

"You're…you're coming to my _Autumn Concert_!"

"_Yeah…and I was thinking of getting dad to come. You know, now that I'm an actor I think he can be persuaded that your singing is a good thing."_ Blaine closed his eyes, flopping down onto the sofa.

"Oh…that's…um…great."

"_Why so despondent? You're always __**begging**__ us to come! You keep saying how you're __**always **__leading your birdies-"_

"The _Warblers_!"

"_-and singing a solo. Well, if dad sees how amazing you are, he might let up." _Blaine exhaled, closing his eyes.

"Yeah…that sounds…do you really think you could make him go?"

"_Course! Emily's being __**dying**__ to come one of your concerts __**for ages**__…I've already set Anna and Meg the task of wear him down…they're enjoying themselves already."_ Blaine bit the inside of his lip. _Crap! Double Crap!_

"Look, Coop, I'm thrilled that you guys are gonna come down…but I don't think I'm gonna have a solo this time round."

"_What? Why?"_

"'Cause…" Blaine closed his eyes, before taking his deep breath and beginning to speak again. "because there's this new kid, called Kurt-"

"_Oh god, you've not fallen for him have you?"_ Blaine laughed out loud at that.

"What? _No_! God no! No, it's just he's being bullied, I think 'cause he's gay…he didn't say, but he just kind of _looks_…anyway, he needs a scholarship, and I'm the only one with a merit based one. Now, 'cause of the situation he's in, Hammonds wants to take my scholarship and give it to him."

"_That's ridiculous!"_

"Just let me finish, Coop, we agreed to sing for it, and we were going to do it, like, soon, but we decided to postpone it till after Sectionals."

"_And?"_

"Well, I was going to, you know, throw it away so that he could get in." he could hear Cooper tutting over the other end of the line.

"_Blaine, Blaine! You can't just throw away something like that! Having a merit based scholarship is going to look damned impressive on your college applications. You __**do**__ want to sing don't you?"_

"Well yeah, but-"

"_And this could be your __**one**__ chance to get dad behind you…I've already set the ball rolling, so I can't really stop it now…don't be your usual dumb self, little bro, you've got to grab your chances."_

"Yeah…but, I don't know, he kind of _needs_ this."

"_Blaine, come on, if you loose your scholarship dad might just pull you out anyway…you know how he feels about you getting private education." _

"Yeah, yeah, I know; it's softening me up."

"_Well it's true little bro, you need to a tough skin to survive in the real world, and your cushy little private school __**isn't**__ going to give you that."_

"Yeah, you're right…"

"_Make the right decision, Blaine, you know dad'll only come if you are singing solo…don't be an idiot."_

"Yeah, well, I'll try big bro."

"_See you soon then little bro."_

"Bye Coop." Blaine hung up, tucking his phone under his chin as he thought. On the one hand, this could be the one thing that finally broke down the barriers between him and his dad, but on the other…if Kurt didn't get the scholarship then he wouldn't get in. Suddenly, lunch didn't seem that inviting anymore, nor did attending afternoon lessons. By it's own accord, his torso was upright and his legs were moving him towards the door, leading him where he needed to be.

* * *

_Okay, I'm an idiot. I'm a Grade A, amazing singer, future Broadway legend and fashion icon, moron. Why, oh why, did I say I could find the cafeteria? Every single corridor looks the same, and half the Dalton boys wondering around aren't even __**going**__ to the cafeteria. I've followed half a dozen boys, and __**all**__ of them have gone to some sort of club meeting, or classroom. I am __**never**__ going to be able to make my way around!_

"Kurt?" Kurt spun around at the sound of his name, and felt his legs sag from relief at the sight of Nick and Jeff. "What are you doing? Are you- _oh my God_!" they took in his appearance and their faces lit up.

"I can't believe it!" exclaimed Nick, bounding to his side. "Hammonds _listened to me_! He _actually_ listened _to me_!" Jeff nodded, looking him up and down.

"That's, just- wow! Whose uniform are you wearing?"

"Sebastian's." they nodded in understanding.

"Where's Blaine?" asked Nick, putting an arm around his shoulder, and guiding him down the hall. Kurt flinched in surprise at the unexpected contact. Nick drew his arm back, quickly. "Oh god! Sorry, I didn't…I just…oh god, _sorry_!" Kurt looked at him, noting the way his eyes _begged_ for forgiveness.

"No, it's okay, Nick, it's just…I don't…at my school - old school - whatever, we didn't…there wasn't much _physical _contact, at least not for me…lately the guy that touched me the most was the one that shoved me into lockers." both Nick and Jeff looked at him in shock.

"Because you were gay, right?" there was a pause before Kurt nodded. Jeff gave him a half smile, nodding. "Yeah that's what happened to Blaine."

"And if it's any consolation…you look kind of hot, in a sweet way, in the uniform." Kurt stopped walking, his mouth falling open into a wide gape, and staring at Nick in shock.

"_Nick_!" exclaimed Jeff, slapping his forehead with a hand. "What have I told you about flirting with the new kids!" Kurt was still staring them, wide eyes and unable to believe what he'd just heard.

"You're…you were _flirting_ with _me_?" Nick nodded, staring at him in confusion.

"Yeah…is that okay with you? 'Cause I can stop…I just, I flirt with everyone - except Thad cause that would _awkward_!" Kurt blinked again.

"You're gay?" Nick shook his head.

"I'm pansexual, if I had to label myself." Kurt nodded, a little numbly.

"Are you sure that you're okay, Kurt?" said Jeff. The blonde Warbler was frowning at him, as if he could sense that Kurt's head was spinning.

"What? Oh, yeah…just the only person who's ever _liked_ me was a girl…when she thought I was straight…"

…_and my bully who kissed me, and went back for another one, when I encouraged him to hit me, and then threatened to kill me if I told anyone._

"Someone thought you were _straight_!" said Nick, bursting into incredulous laughter. Kurt felt the tension that had seeped into his body at the thought of Karofsky drain away. He smiled.

"I know…I thought I was fooling everyone, but then my dad told me he'd known I was gay since I was three; apparently all I wanted was a sensible pair of heels." Nick tipped his head back and roared in laughter. Jeff was smirking, and they led him through the school.

"That is…sorry, but I just….that's _brilliant_!" Kurt smiled at the two boys some more.

Out of the blue, as they made their way round another corner and the sound of singing reached their ears, Jeff reached over and pulled Kurt out of the way of a boy who was running down the corridor as fast as he possibly could. He gave them the briefest of nods, and then Nick and Jeff kept walking. Kurt stared between them, slightly wide eyed, before deciding to take up another topic of conversation.

"So, why don't you flirt with Thad?" Nick blinked at him, once, before seemingly recalling that he'd mentioned the boy earlier.

"Cause we're related…we're some sort of cousins, but we never worked it out so as far as we're concerned we're god-brothers." Kurt nodded, not being honestly able to say that he'd seen any family resemblance between the two boys.

"So, where's Blaine?" asked Jeff, suddenly, as if just remembering that that was the question that Nick had asked initially. Kurt shrugged.

"He got a phone call. He said he had to take it."

"Who from?" asked Nick, inquisitively. Kurt shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, he didn't say. I told him I could make my way to the cafeteria on my own…" the two Dalton boys looked at each other before snorting.

"Yeah…I'm sure you can Kurt." Kurt scowled at the boys, and almost walked into a teacher, and was just pulled out of the way in time. He was bestowed a withering glare by the tall women with rigid, brown, curls.

"Mr Duval, Mr Sterling, keep your friend out of trouble."

"Yes Mrs Daniels."

"Sorry, Mrs Daniels." they both bowed their heads respectfully, and, after Jeff had trod on his toes, Kurt lowered his gaze from the teacher's piercing gaze.

"What the hell?" he muttered as the two boys lead him into the canteen.

"That was Mrs Daniels, she's the Head of the History department, and Deputy Head…she's the meanest teacher at Dalton, stay _out_ of her way." Kurt nodded, looking back in time to see the fearsome woman berating a Freshman over the state of his uniform.

_Well, at least that something normal about Dalton; a mean teacher. I hope that I don't end up in her classroom, she looks like she could stand a chance at out shouting Coach Sylvester in a shouting match, and her glare is certainly of an equal intensity. I don't know about the other boys, but Nick and Jeff certainly seem ready to open up to me…I might just be able to fit in here after all... _

* * *

**Next Time- Learning Curve: Kurt gets his first real experience of Dalton life. It might just be half a day, but the lessons are more challenging than he could ever have imagined, and fitting in isn't a walk in the park either. Meanwhile, Blaine takes the afternoon to do some thinking, and gains advice from an unexpected source…**


	3. Learning Curve

**The Scholarship**

**Episode 3: Learning Curve**

_Okay, so, so far, I've fallen in love, been told that I have to compete with the person I like, discovered that they like the freakin' __**head boy**__, and encountered their absolutely bizarre music director who wanted to let me into the school just because I had the name of one of the von Trapp children. Oh, and I've already discovered which teacher to avoid, and been flirted with - even though it was completely one side, __**and**__ they were just flirting for the sake of it, not because they liked me. I officially don't think this day can get any weirder. The important word there being "think"._

Kurt flicked a lettuce leaf across his plate, and listened to David and Flint discuss their art lesson with the rest of the table. Kurt didn't know who most of the people at the table were because Nick and Jeff had been joined by a load of students that hadn't been there the day before, and both Thad and Blaine were absent from the cafeteria. This being so, and because they were talking about a subject that Kurt didn't take, he found himself staying completely silent, and trying to force some food down him. His stomach, though, seemed to have different ideas about being fed because it kept twisting itself into knots, clearly exhibiting the nerves that wracked his body at the thought of going to lessons now.

"Oh, I am _telling _you there's something going on between them!" the boys all snorted over their lunches at once, and a smile even appeared on David's face, which had been exceptionally grave throughout the course of the meal.

"That's, just, _eurgh_! Did you _have_ to put _that_ image in my head? I'm _eating_!"

"Aww, poor baby Jeffy!" Nick reached across the table and tugged at his cheeks. Jeff slapped him away whilst the other boys guffawed. Looking around, Kurt noted that the cafeteria was more rowdy than yesterday. Maybe everyone was just more subdued on a Monday. And perhaps the "studying" was in fact last minute homework being finished. That would certainly make things more normal.

"You know, Sectionals is gonna be epic this year." Kurt looked up at that. Flint was the one that had started the conversation with the other boys at the table. "I think Luc's finally caved." he added, and the light in the other boys' eyes lit up.

"He's going to let Blaine and Sebastian sing together?" Flint nodded, and Kurt managed to not choke on the tomato he was eating.

"Finally…after all their duets at the concerts it was getting _ridiculous_ that they weren't doing at the competitions."

"Too right, Fred, I think Sebastian was the one to finally swing the scales in their favour."

"How?" asked David, sitting up. Flint shrugged.

"I'm not sure, but when he spoke to me in the corridor he said that he'd just had a conversation with Luc…he wasn't specific, though."

"Wait! Wait! Hold the phone. Sebastian spoke _to you_ in the corridor!" Flint nodded.

"I know, I was kinda surprised too, to be honest…he asked me if I was okay…it was a little weird." the other boys exchanged glances.

"Maybe it's Blaine…maybe he thawed the heart of our little Ice Prince." there were some chuckles at that, and Jeff turned to Flint whilst Kurt stared at his plate, hearing the words resonate inside his head. They were going to sing _together_ at Sectionals…He closed his eyes, this just got _worse_.

"So, how _are_ you? You know, your parents and stuff?" Flint shrugged.

"I dunno, it wasn't _that_ bad…just some stuff about how my grades weren't high enough, or something." there were rolled eyes.

"That's a tonne of crap."

"Thanks Drew, but, you know what they're like…if I don't get 100% I might as well have failed." there were more eye rolls, and, for the first time, Kurt considered the fact that this was a _private _school. This meant everything was going to be more academically challenging, and, whilst the courses at McKinley had always been kind of easy, he was starting to guess that this was the kind of school were a B grade was the source of major distress. Not good.

"Well, anyway, he just said I better win at Sectionals…and I have to sing solo at the Concert. They're not even _coming_." he slumped in his seat slightly, and Kurt sat up, ears perking slightly.

"Concert?" there was a pause as the boys looked at each other, clearly deciding who should answer.

"Well," said Nick, eventually. "we hold three concerts each year…one in Autumn, one in Spring and the last big hoorah in Summer. We also hold a Carol Concert at Christmas, but that's all very formal and _incredibly_ dull." there were a load of eye rolls, and nods.

"Yeah…the preacher is _boring_." there were more nods.

"I'm a devout Christian, and all," added one of the boys. "but even I can't _stand_ the Carol Service, it's just…" he shook his head. Kurt frowned.

"You have to go to a _Carol Concert_, but what happened to being an accepting school?" there was a pause in which they all shared knowing looks that just made Kurt annoyed.

"Well…yeah, all faiths are welcome in our school, but it's just a sort of _tradition_, you don't actually _have _to go, except the Warblers sing, and most people go out of…" there were shrugs. "It's just a kind of school thing…people just _go_."

"Even though it's boring?" asked Kurt in disbelief. There were more nods.

"Yeah, if for nothing other than the singing, and the Orchestra…the voices sound _exceptional_ in a church." there were nods from the non-Warblers at the table, and those that were in the choir blushed red.

"I thought you were a show choir." there were shrugs.

"We're kind of both…there's another choir, a more traditional one…and we join together for the Carol Service, and the end of year Concert in the Summer." Kurt nodded in understanding.

"So, this Concert, how do you get a solo?" there was a pause, and more knowing looks from the boys were exchanged. It annoyed Kurt that they were doing that…it was like he didn't exist in those moments, and it infuriated him.

"Well, you have to go through Luc…and it's not just singers." said Nick in an easy tone of voice that didn't quite match up with the serious expressions on everyone's faces. "There are a set number of solo slots you see, and anyone can go for them, like Juri here-" he gestured to a pale boy with very dark hair and electric blue eyes. "-plays the French Horn…he's had a solo in _every_ concert because he's just so amazing." the pale boy flushed slightly as his hair was ruffled affectionately.

"How many solo slots are there?" asked Kurt curiously. Nick paused in thought, looking at the others for help.

"I think about 12...six in each half; the concert always opens with the Warblers and closes with the Orchestra…then the Chamber Orchestra and the Concert Band play at the ending of the first half or the opening of the second, depending, and the other music groups can play if Luc clears them." Kurt nodded, thinking.

"So, basically, you have to audition in front of Luc-" he broke off at the sight of them wincing.

"You want to call him Mr Lucey." Kurt raised an eyebrow, looking at the boy who'd spoken. "Trust me, never call him Luc unless he's allowed you to…it avoids any unwanted incidents." Kurt raised his eyebrow further, intrigued.

"You have to be one the "music kids" to call him Luc." explained Drew, slowly. "You should have seen the look on his face when Fred called him Luc. He went redder than his hair, I think we all thought he was going to explode. Then he went into some long rant about how calling him that without permission was disrespect."

"And then he put me in detention for _three weeks_…thankfully I got Mr Kerr got him to over turn it."

"Who's Mr Kerr?"

"He's the head of Putnam house…Dr Booth is head of Harriot, and Professor Lloyd is head of Franklin." Kurt nodded.

"Which one is he?" he asked, craning round to look at the staff table. He was unexpectedly jerked back to face the boys before him. "_What_?"

"You don't just _stare_ at the staff table, that's disrespectful!" Kurt blinked at David's hiss, and then straightened his blazer. "and Professor Lloyd is a _woman_."

"Sorry…" he said, utterly bemused.

_Okay, this school __**is**__ weird. The rules that they have, I just don't get…You seem to have to randomly jump out of the way of some students, you can't look into the teacher's eyes if they're telling you off, and you can't stare at the teacher's table because that's disrespectful. I mean, yeah, it's so much better than the shoving and pushing and uncouthness of McKinley, but…I don't know…there's something a little odd about Dalton? And where's Blaine? The phone call can't be taking __**this**__ long. _

* * *

Blaine made his way to the choir room, after looking around to make sure no one - Sebastian or Luc mainly - was lurking in any of the rooms to the side, he shut the door and pulled the cover off the piano. He stared at it for a couple of seconds, half wishing he had his guitar because it made everything…_different_, but decided that it wasn't worth going back to Franklin for it. His hands traced the ivory keys, and the temptation to sit down and play was almost uncontrollable, but he fought it. He needed to _think_. He needed to _decide_.

He sank onto the stool, shoulders slumping forward in the way that he did when he was alone and there was nobody watching. He glanced around, feeling almost guilty neglecting his posture, there always was _somebody_ watching, even if it was just Blaine himself. He raised his hands to the keys, a small frown gracing his brows, eyes narrowing slightly as he envisaged the chords he so frequently played on the guitar onto the piano keys.

And he needed a release. Cooper's call, whilst being filled with good intentions - for the first time - had served to add another pressure to his life. Blaine, though he never showed it, got nervous at the _thought_ of performing in front of other people, it sent his heart racing and the butterfly feeling wouldn't leave his stomach until a good _half hour after_ he'd come off the stage. Now that he could, potentially, be performing in front of his brother and _father_ it was like someone had just dropped a lead weight into his stomach. Add to that the fact that he could be on the cusp of a breakthrough with his father…but possibly at the cost of hanging Kurt out to dry. Blaine didn't know Kurt at all, but he knew how _that_ felt…and he knew that Kurt needed safety…and, if Blaine had anything, it was moral compass. Unfortunately, there seemed to be some interference with that…but it was still pointing, despite wavering, towards Kurt.

His hands fell onto the keys off their own accord, punching out the intro chords because that was the only thing on his mind. Because, in the end, he needed something to take his mind off everything else…and he needed to know that he could do this. If he was going to sing to his father, than he needed to be better than brilliant.

_Hey, slow it down whataya want from me_

_Whataya want from me_

_Yeah I'm afraid whataya want from me_

_Whataya want from me_

_There might have been a time_

_When I would give myself away_

_Oh once upon a time I didn't give a damn_

He began to crease his brow as he fell further into the song, beginning to let go, and loose the self conscious feeling that he felt about sitting in the Warbler Hall in the middle of lunch.

_But now, here we are so whataya want from me_

_Whataya want from me_

_Just don't give up I'm workin it out_

_Please don't give in, I won't let you down_

He tilted his chin towards the ceiling, eyelids flickering. He didn't want to let anyone down, he never did. This was what he wanted to yell to his father, his brother, Kurt…Sebastian. To tell them that, no matter how confusing this was for him right now, that he was going to do the right thing…come to the right decision. That, no matter what, he was going to make his dad proud…not that his dad would be proud if he gave up his scholarship and solos for another gay kid.

_It messed me up, need a second to breathe_

_Just keep coming around_

_Hey, whataya want from me_

_Whataya want from me_

_Whataya want from me_

_Just don't give up on me_

_I won't let you down_

He now felt as though he was singing to Sebastian. Sometimes, he wondered whether it was something that he did, or had done, that meant Sebastian hadn't asked him out yet. Blaine, emotionally stunted as he was, had noticed the lead like him…so why didn't he ask Blaine out? Was he waiting for Blaine? Did he still think he was still broken from everything thad had happened in _Freshman_ year?

_No, I won't let you down_

He didn't want to disappoint Kurt, either. Kurt reminded him of himself when he'd first come to Dalton. Trying so hard to come across as confident and put-together, but really just barely holding it together on the inside. Almost breaking, but never doing that because they had _somebody_, because they had realised that _someone_ cared.

_So, just don't give up I'm workin it out_

_Please don't give in, I won't let you down_

Blaine didn't want to think about why nothing had happened last night. He guessed that it was because they had never _said_ it was going to be tomorrow, they'd just implied it, but he couldn't help but thinking that they'd done something wrong. He knew that that was what was getting David. The feeling he'd messed up, and let Wes down.

_It messed me up, need a second to breathe_

And it was refreshing to be on his own, to catch his breath, and collect his emotions. He almost didn't feel like getting up and going to lessons. He felt like sitting there for the rest of the day, playing his way to the answer to his questions.

_Just keep coming around_

_Hey, whataya want from me_

_Whataya want from me _

_Whataya want from me…_

He trailed off at the end. He didn't remove his hands from the keys. His eyes, wish he hadn't even realised he'd closed, flickered open gently. He breathed out, heavily. Slowly he lifted his hands, and rested them, calmly, on his lap. Oh, how he'd missed singing on stage. How he'd missed doing that. Ever since his encounter with Luc in the Choir Room at the end of last term he'd been rather afraid of coming here to sing on his own, but now he remembered why he'd dared to do it the first time round. It was like taking a painkiller. Slowly his problems faded away.

* * *

_So, lunch was interesting, but now I've got my first lesson. Worst of all it's US History with Mrs Daniels. The others have advised that I keep my head down, and don't say anything until I've had a chance to read over some of their most recent notes. They reckon, if I'm lucky, I'll pass under her radar. If I'm unlucky…_

Kurt sank into a seat next to Juri. The pale boy, who spoke with a relatively heavy Russian accent, didn't say very much, but did smile quite a bit when the others spoke, like he was pleased with himself for understanding them. He seemed to be constantly fidgeting with his fingers, the three centre fingers of left hand tapping out a seemingly random pattern, and the right moved inwards and outwards. He seemed quite nice though, and had slipped Kurt his notes, written with impossibly neat, looping and even sized handwriting, and Kurt was scanning them as fast as he could.

When Mrs Daniels entered, Juri nudged him with his sharp, bony, elbow, and Kurt hopped to his feet, a couple of seconds after the other boys. Her eyes met his for a second, and he stared back, refusing to be intimidated, before Juri stepped on his foot, and Kurt remembered that this was his _teacher_ not another student or bully. He lowered his gaze, but not before he got her disapproving glower. He looked at Juri out of the corner of his eye, and saw that his gaze was fixed on a point of floor that appeared to be completely fascinating all of a sudden.

"Sit down boys." they all took their seats, and Juri's gaze fixated on to his notepad. "How was the homework, then. Hands up now who didn't complete it?" no one moved, until Juri elbowed him again, and Kurt raised his hand, shooting the other people in the classroom bemused looks. "Ah, yes, who exactly are you?"

"Kurt Hummel."

"Yes, now that's interesting, why do I have no new student on my register?" Kurt frowned, thinking hard.

"Um…I guess, because I'm not technically a student…Mr Hammonds-"

"_Headmaster_ Hammonds." Kurt froze for a second, mildly taken aback, before he nodded.

"Oh, sorry, Headmaster Hammonds and I agreed that I was here on a sort of…_trial period_, until I have my audition for the scholarship." there was a pause in which she seemed to snort, and then mutter something about "not being informed or consulted about important decisions".

"Very well, Juri make sure he gets _all_ your notes, and the assignment." Juri nodded, and Kurt lowered his gaze again. "Where is Thaddeus?" there was a pause in which most people shot Nick and David looks. "Nicolas-" Nick winced, and Kurt could only guess that that was his full name. "-David, I'm looking at the two of you for answers." they exchanged glances before shaking their heads.

"We don't know, Mrs Daniels…he wasn't at lunch." the teacher let out an angry huff.

"Right, well, if he does not turn up for the rest of the lesson tell him that he has-" the door flew open with a resounding bang, and, for the second time that day, Luc strolled in followed by a timid looking Thad.

"Sorry," said Luc, in a far more cheerful manner than this morning. "I waylaid Thad, here. There was important Warbler business to discuss, don't put him in detention…though, if anyone's looking to buy him a Christmas present, I suggest a watch." Thad was scarlet in the face, but he remained rooted to the spot, eyes on the ground.

"My-my…ap-p-polgies." he stuttered out, and Mrs Daniels narrowed her eyes, briefly, at him, but seemed for more interested in glaring at Luc with a look of the utmost distaste.

"Please _leave_ my classroom, Mr Lucey, and try not to hold up anymore students." with a final glare that was met with a supercilious smirk, Luc left the classroom and Mrs Daniels fixed her gaze on her pupils. "Thaddeus," she said, as she began to open a file on her computer. "if you don't stop holding up my lesson I _will_ put you in detention." Thad gave a nod that she couldn't see, and slid into the empty seat next to Nick. The dark haired boy leant in, as if to engage him in conversation, before seemingly deciding better of it, and moving back to an upright position.

_Well, this is going to be fun…it looks like Mr Lucey isn't that popular with the rest of the staff, or at least Mrs Daniels. I wonder why? He's a bit odd. I wonder whether he's an ex-pupil, or something, because there's __**no way**__ someone his age could be teaching at another school, especially not one like Dalton…_

"Mrs Daniels." Juri's hand had gone up, and Kurt was glad for a break in the lesson which was passing straight over his head. "I do not understand." he said, his face set in a definite frown, his dark, heavy, eyebrows contracting.

"Language or content?" she demanded, sounding a little impatient. Juri cocked his head for a moment, eyebrows sinking lower.

"Language." he decided, finally. "I do understand ze vords." Mrs Daniels rolled her eyes.

"Mr Hummel." Kurt jumped and sat up a little straighter. "Did you understand?"

"Um…"

_No, I had absolutely __**no clue**__ what you were talking about. Somehow, though, I get the impression that's not the answer she's looking for. I mean, I didn't understand __**what**__ she was talking about so I sort of tuned her out…I am so screwed!_

"Mr Hummel try and pay attention next time. Mr Benediktov, please use your intuitive in the future; ask Mr Hummel to help you translate."

"But I zought ve vere not allowed to talk?" Mrs Daniels rolled her eyes with a pained expression crossing her face, and Kurt noticed that there were quite a lot of people in the classroom that were trying _very hard_ not to laugh at the situation.

"I am _giving you permission_ to talk, Juri, if - and _only_ if - you do not understand what I am saying. Clear?"

"Yes." he gave her a definitive nod, and Mrs Daniels shook her head, as if despairing at her class. She straightened herself and began to talk again.

_Okay, I'm really confused by this woman. Why does she keep switching between people's first names and last names? So far, she's called Juri by both, me by my last and Nick, David and Thad by their first names, well their full names, but still…it's just odd. Though, I'm starting to think that "odd" is a bit of an understatement as far as this school goes…I also wonder what happened to Blaine. He never made it to lunch…I guess he's in his next lesson now, though. _

* * *

Blaine knew that, if anyone found him, he was so dead. However, right now, he couldn't bring himself to care. He was skiving off lessons, yes, but it was only _French_, and he could easily catch up a later date. His dad had made sure that both he and Cooper, and now Anna and Megan, were practically fluent in French and Spanish by the time they entered high school. He cursed his mind as it brought him back to thoughts of his father. He knew that, as Cooper had enlisted the help of Anna and Meg, he was well and truly done for because, no matter his father's relationship with him and Cooper, he could never deny his two little princesses _anything_.

"You know, Blaine, last time I checked, you were meant to be in lessons." Blaine looked up and saw Luc leaning in the - now open - doorway to the hallway.

"Oh, yeah, right." Luc came in, frown on his face.

"Why so despondent Blaine? I thought you'd be jumping for joy after I spoke to your boyfriend." Blaine rolled his eyes.

"For the _last f-ing time_. _I am not_ _dating_ _Sebastian_!" Luc just smirked at the Junior, shutting the door and moving into the room.

"Yeah, but you both want to…so, you know." Blaine blinked.

"Wait. What? Sebastian _wants_ to go out with me?" Luc, sitting down on a sofa, and putting his feet up on a table reveal lurid socks that were neon green and yellow striped, raised an eyebrow.

"You're joking, right? I didn't think you were _that_ blind." Blaine scowled.

"I _know_ he _likes_ me- or at least he _flirts_ with me, but I didn't- I wasn't sure whether- I didn't think he did _serious_?" Luc shrugged.

"I've never known him to do "serious", but I've also never seen him quite as hung about someone as he is about you. I mean, think about Freshman year…" he trailed off and Blaine glared at him as got up from the piano, and sat on the arm of the sofa opposite Luc's. He opened his mouth to ask about Sebastian, before he sighed, heavily, and shook his head.

"What did you talk to him about?" he asked, eventually, feeling slightly awkward about having a private conversation with Luc.

"I think it's time to show-case you and Sebastian together, on stage, for Sectionals." Blaine felt his mouth drop open in shock.

"You mean we'd do a _duet_ on _Friday_!" Luc nodded.

"I don't see why not…I mean, I have to run it past the council, but I can't see anyone objecting…they've all been begging for this since I caved at the Summer Concert two years back."

"Well, I guess we kind of have to do it now…it's not like he's gonna be around much longer." Luc nodded.

"Precisely, that's how your dear boyfriend-" Blaine ground his teeth. "-managed to convince me in the first place…Why don't _you_ just ask him out?" Blaine opened his mouth, startled, before shutting it again.

"I…I just don't…"

"You don't wanna be rejected?" Blaine nodded, swallowing.

"And he's like _the_ most popular kid in the school…and he's _head boy_…I'm starting to think he's a _little_ out of my league." Luc's eyebrow rose again.

"Out of your league? You're the _only person_ in this school who can match him vocally." he shook his head. "There's no hope for that Kurt kid." Blaine frowned.

"How do you know that? He could be amazing." Luc shook his head.

"If was _that_ amazing, he'd have been singing lead in the New Directions…he wasn't, ergo he's not as good as you or Sebastian because the girl and the guy they have singing lead are only just a match for the two of you…the girl more than the guy." Blaine nodded, musing it over.

"I don't think we should get cocky…the guy we met yesterday - Finn, Kurt's stepbrother - seemed kind of confident about their chances of winning." Luc sat up.

"You met Finn?" Blaine nodded. "He's their male lead." Blaine opened his mouth, as if to emit an "oh" of surprise, and leant back a little. "What did he seem like?" Blaine shrugged.

"Tall, not that threatening…enthusiastic." Luc nodded.

"That's how the New Directions function; they get by on their peppy, look-at-us-we're-the-underdogs-so-feel-_inspired_-by-us attitude." Blaine raised his eyebrows.

"Ookaay." Luc let out a snort at the look on his face.

"Harsh words, but it's true…they were _cute_ last year at Regionals…but they didn't hold a _candle_ to Vocal Adrenaline…and you know how much it pains me to say that." Blaine nodded, brow sinking in thought.

"Do you think it'll work against us to have two guys singing together?" Luc shrugged, pulling his face.

"Well, possibly, but we're an _all boys school_, it's not like we have a choice….which reminds me, you need to meet up with the Crawford girls." Blaine stared at him, mouth parted in confusion, before he remembered, suddenly.

"Ohh yeah." he said, eyes going slightly wide. "Crap…yeah, I forgot."

"Well you better do it quickly, you've got to make your carol choices soon, it's not like you guys get many chances to practise together." Blaine nodded.

"Yeah…totally." Luc frowned at Blaine as they descended into silence again.

"Is there something wrong, Blaine, because I count you as one of "my" students." Blaine raised an eyebrow.

"Your students?" Luc shrugged.

"There are the students I can't stand, the ones I'm indifferent towards - which is most of them - the ones I like, and then the ones that genuinely _care_ about."

"You mean the musical ones."

"Not _just_ the musical ones, though, Blaine…I mean the _exceptional_ ones; you, Sebastian, Juri for example."

"I thought you didn't like Sebastian." Luc smirked, running a hand through his hair.

"I like Sebastian…I admire him…he's a good kid, when he wants to be." Blaine tilted his head to the side, utterly fascinated with this insight into the genius' world.

"Who else do you like?"

"Well…Wes, Thad, George, Callum, Pedro and Braden."

"Not David or Mac?" Luc shook his head.

"David's talented, there's no denying it…but he's _not_ original…he might have a sign saying "Wes' lapdog" pinned to his chest. Mac's the same…accept he's just been _groomed_ into his way of playing…he's technically _brilliant_, but he's not _interesting_." Blaine tried not to snort at Luc's description of David.

"Right…if you like me, why did you yell for singing in here last year?" Luc frowned, pursing his lips, and Blaine got the sense he was struggling to recall that particular memory.

"I don't remember that, what were you singing?" Blaine cast his mind back.

"_Waking Up in Vegas_." Luc's expression cleared.

"I hated the fact that you'd chosen to sing our performance song…it was _such_ a waste of time." Blaine nodded.

"Right, I'll bear that in mind…scared the crap out of me." Luc burst out laughing.

"My apologise, Blaine…why are you out of lessons, though?" Blaine sighed.

"It's Kurt…" he said, sighing.

"Oh you noticed his mega-crush on you?"

"_What_?" yelped Blaine, actually leaping off the arm of the chair. Luc's mouth fell open, slightly, at his reaction.

"Okay…I'll take that as a no." Blaine was still on his feet, heart beating wildly.

"Luc, were you kidding?" there was a pause, before Luc cracked a grin.

"Yeah, 'course I was…reaction was totally worth it." Blaine scowled at Luc.

"That was _not_ funny, you know full well I lack the emotional capacity to deal with that kind of situation…it _totally _stressed me out." Luc chuckled as Blaine sank into the sofa. Blaine shook his head. "No, the problem is, just…do I throw away the audition, Luc?" Luc raised his eyebrows at that.

"If you do that you won't be lead in the Concert…I can't even guarantee the one _after_ that." Blaine sighed.

"I guessed you'd say something like that…but, what am I meant to do, Luc?" Luc shrugged.

"I don't know Blaine, it's up to you."

"Any advice?" Luc raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, I might look out for my boys, doesn't mean I know how to deal with their problems." Blaine snorted, loudly.

"True, but still?" Luc paused, swinging his legs off the table he stood up. He clasped his hands behind his back and walked over to the window, gazing out across the grounds.

"Blaine, if there's one thing I learnt it's that the only person that you can count on 100% to look after you is you. Sacrificing the scholarship for Kurt would _lovely_, but it might not be what's best for you…and in the end, that's what you have to do, Blaine. You might feel like a _shit_ person, but you can't help it. I would bet _anything_ that in your situation, whatever that may be, Kurt would be feeling the same thing, along with _every other_ boy in Dalton." Blaine nodded as Luc, shrugging, turned to face him again.

"I just…I feel like I _should _give it up."

"Then do." Blaine nodded, face setting into a frown.

"Okay, thanks Luc." Luc looked at him, eyes narrowed.

"Are you going back to lessons?" Blaine considered it before shaking his head.

"No…I'd rather off for the rest of the day."

"Then come on, I'll show you the prototypes I've prepared for the council today." Blaine hopped off the sofa arm, and gladly followed Luc through one of the side doors and into his office.

* * *

_Okay, I'm officially, totally, screwed as far as Dalton goes. I've had two lessons, two __**freakin'**__ lessons, and half the year probably thinks I'm stupid. So History was pretty bad as Juri kept asking me what stuff meant - I'm starting to understand why the desk next to him was empty, and Mrs Daniels kept glaring at me, like she thought I was talking for the heck of it, but __**nothing**__ could have been as bad as English. They're doing 'The Crucible', and I don't know __**anything**__ about it. I thought Professor Lloyd was going to kill me, when I guessed that it was set in the Civil War, talk about getting off to a bad start with my Head of House…I guess it didn't help I ended up next to Juri again. Worse of all, I keep getting pulled out of the way and elbowed. It's not bullying, they're just trying to keep me out of trouble, but it's getting __**annoying**__! Urgh, I'm glad dad's coming now, it's going to be nice to be in a situation I get!_

"Juri, make sure that Kurt finds his way to Franklin, then the cafeteria and back again alright. You guys are probably gonna end up rooming together."

"_What_?" Kurt didn't mean to sound so annoyed or enraged, but the day had stressed him out. Juri looked at him, a hurt expression crossing his features. Kurt sighed and ran a hand across his face, his posture slumping slightly. "Okay, I'm sorry…this day has just been a bit…"

"Much?" Kurt nodded at Jeff's suggestion. The tall blonde boy placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Kurt, we understand that, you know, this must have been a huge upheaval for you." Kurt nodded, hugging the books that had been given to him a little closer to his chest, and straightening his spine slightly.

"You know, we'd love to stay and help, but we need to get to Warblers." Flint was anxiously checking the time on his watch, and Thad was shifting from foot to foot in obvious anxiety. However, the mention of the show choir captured Kurt's attention, and he managed to regain his perfect posture.

"Can I come?" he asked, a tad eagerly. "I mean, how do I join?" the boys looked at each other, sharing sad looks that made Kurt a touch uneasy.

"You can't come, Kurt." said Jeff, eventually. "You'd have to audition…and we don't have _time_ to host an audition, not with Sectionals on Friday. We've only got _three_ rehearsals left."

"Yeah, and now that Sebastian and Blaine are singing together our song will have change…we're gonna have a lot work to do."

"But…but…" stuttered Kurt, a slightly lost expression appearing on his face. "I…I wanted to join…I wanted to compete."

"And you can and _will_," assured Jeff. "but not _this_ time." Kurt felt his spine crumble again. He couldn't compete.

"Is there no way?" they all shook their heads.

"I'm…I'm _ssssorry_, K-Kurt, but…_rules_." Kurt nodded, understanding what Thad was trying to say, but still feeling completely disheartened at the same time.

"Right, well, I'll see you guys later, I guess."

"Yeah…we should be out in time for dinner, fingers crossed." the three boys turned away, together, and hurried through the crowd.

"I'm sorry," offered Juri, but Kurt just shook his head. Juri shrugged, and then relieved Kurt of half his books. "I'll take you back to ze house…you can dump your stuff in my room until ve figure out vhere you vill stay for longer term." Kurt nodded, giving the Russian a half smile.

"So, can you explain some things to me?" he asked, as they began to make their through the crowds, people parting for Juri, slightly.

"Yes, of course." Kurt bowed his head, slightly, avoiding eye contact with anyone lest he should end up on the receiving end of Juri's bony elbow again. "Vhat do vant to know?"

"Can you just explain some of the basic rules, like the whole getting out of the way of people in the corridor." Juri nodded, opening his mouth to explain the rules, and Kurt tried to relax, despite the constant stream of thoughts running through his head.

_I can't believe that I'm not competing at Sectionals! I just can't believe it! Singing has been the only constant thing in my life, and now I'm not allowed to compete just because they can't sacrifice their precious time to let me audition! It's not fair! After everything that's happened, they're just treating me like it's nothing! All that's happened today is me being told that there's other things more important then me getting into Dalton; Sectionals for one! I mean, don't get me wrong I want to win that trophy as much as Rachel, and I don't care which team I'm on to do that, but my __**life**__ was __**threatened**__! It's like that doesn't even matter!_

"Sebastian!" Kurt was shaken from his angry, hurt, thoughts by Juri's shout to the Head boy. Sebastian - who Kurt had never disliked more than in that moment when he had all the negative thoughts and feelings inhabiting him - stopped, and turned to Juri in surprise.

"No offence, Juri, but now really _isn't_ a great time." the Russian boy nodded in apparent understanding.

"It von't take long. I promise." Sebastian came to a halt, eyes darting between Kurt and Juri in an impatient manner.

"What is it?"

"Vhere is Kurt going to be staying? Vill he stay vith me as I have a spare bed?" Sebastian looked between them.

"What? Well, yeah, you or Parker, and seeing as he's met you that seems to be the best idea. I mean, it kind of has to be his choice…" he glanced at Kurt, and Kurt was mildly taken aback by the fact that he was asking Kurt whether or not he wanted to share a room with Juri. Kurt nodded, eventually.

"Um, yeah, I'll share." Sebastian nodded.

"Great, well, gotta run…" he clapped Juri on the shoulder before darting away. Kurt stayed still, stunned into silence for a second, before following Juri the final couple of metres to Franklin house. They stepped into the antechamber, and Kurt let out a great sigh when he saw his dad standing there, surrounded by suitcases.

"_Dad_!" Kurt dropped his books onto the floor and threw his arms around his father. Burt took a couple of steps back, seemingly taken aback by his son's affection.

"I've only been gone for _hours_," he said, stepping away, and chuckling. "Are you sure you going to stand being away _all week_?" Kurt, smiling too, nodded.

"Yeah…it's just…it's been a _long_ day." Burt nodded.

"Tell me about it…I knew you had a lot of clothes, but I didn't realise you had _this_ many. Carole packed what she thought you might want for now, but we weren't sure." Kurt nodded, and grabbed one of the cases as Juri gathered up his books.

"I vill put your books avay…and I vill find somevone to help…" Burt frowned at the boy who was looking around. "_Chris_!" he called out, and a boy with headphones covering his ears looked around. Juri raised a hand to him, and he came running over. When he came to a stop, Kurt recognised him as the boy from lunch who had told him to call Luc Mr Lucey.

"What is it Juri?" he asked, slipping the headphones round his neck.

"Vill you help Kurt to bring his zings to my room." Chris nodded, and reached for a case.

"Yeah, sure."

"Sorry, who are you two?" Burt was looking at the two boys who were now holding Kurt's things.

"Oh, I'm Christopher Jones, and this is Juri Benediktov, we're both Juniors, and in Franklin." Burt nodded.

"Ah, I see."

"Kurt vill stay in my room." added Juri. There was a silence as Burt nodded, slightly startled, and followed the boys through the common room, up the stairs, and then another set, to the third door on the right. Juri flung it open to reveal his own room, almost identical to Blaine's except that it was _a lot_ messier. There was music scattered everywhere, and an upright piano stood in a corner. There was the case of what Kurt guessed was his French Horn, and a violin case lay open.

"Sorry zat zere is so much mess…I forget to tidy." he added, a little helplessly. Kurt nodded, preparing to turn around to collect the rest, and was surprised to find that some other boys had already brought it up.

"Well…" said Burt, glancing at his son who was taking in the space that he'd been given. "I guess I'm not needed anymore." Kurt gave him a smile.

"I'll see you soon, dad." Burt nodded. There was a crash, and both Hummel men turned to see Juri tumbling over his chair. He leapt to his feet, a piece of manuscript crumpled in his hand.

"Sorry." he said, a little breathlessly. "I just realised…I am late. Excuse me." he hurried out of the room, snatching up his horn case, and running away. Kurt gave his new roommate a small smile, and Burt reached over to hug him.

"It seems like you're a part of this school already." he muttered, and Kurt nodded.

"I know, it really feels like it." Burt nodded, and the two of them walked, in near silence as there was nothing to say, back to the cark park. After he'd hugged his father once more, assured him that he was going to be _fine_, and waved him away, Mercedes texted him.

_Are you still on for the chat?-M_

Kurt smiled at that. The thought of seeing a friend after the kind of day he'd have, made him almost giddy, and he checked his watch. He didn't have time to change, he'd just go like this. Pulling the car keys his father had just given him from his pocket, he hopped into his car.

_This day has been one hell of an experience. Tomorrow I have a whole day of lessons to make it through, and today I probably should be sitting in my room cramming the work I've missed into my brain…but I can't do that. I just…I'm so tired, I need a break. School can wait just one more day. Plus, I seriously need to unload all my feelings onto __**someone**__ before I explode…_

* * *

**Next Time- Hot Seat: Kurt finds solace in his old team-mates, but his first night at Dalton is still a tense affair with Blaine's continued absence doing nothing to reassure him that everything's going to be okay, and, somewhere between the heartache, Kurt beginnings to learn that nothing is simple. Blaine and David experience one of the longest nights of their lives as they enter an entirely new fold…**


	4. Hot Seat

**The Scholarship**

**Episode 4: Hot Seat**

_I think this has to be one of the longest days of my life. Well, today and yesterday. It was only yesterday that Karofsky had his expulsion over turned and I fled McKinley out of fear for my life…Then, today, I got woken up at about half five by dad, and I was on the road by six thirty. From then on everything just spiralled away from my control…I became a sort of Dalton boy, I had to put my faith in a bunch of complete strangers…I found out that everything at Dalton is __**way**__ harder than anything I envisioned, and I'm __**not**__ going be at Sectionals…_

"_Kurt_!" Kurt had barely stepped through the door before he was assaulted by a pack of girls. Having only expected Mercedes, he was incredibly surprised to find all the girls from the New Directions hugging him.

"Kurt it's _so good_ to see you again!" exclaimed Tina, stepping back to give him some breathing space. There were even happy smiles on Quinn and Santana's faces, and he couldn't help but grin as he slid into the booth, and noted Mercedes' smirk.

"I'm flattered," he said, as the others piled in around them. "I've only been gone a day." there were shrugs.

"The choir room feels different." there were nods at Quinn's words and Kurt smiled at the blonde cheerio, feeling touched by her words.

"But what we really wanted to know is, how's Dalton?" Rachel had fixed him with a business like stare.

"What happened?" demanded Mercedes. "Finn said you_ didn't_ have the audition today. So what did you do? And _why_ are you dressed like _that_?" Kurt took a deep breath.

"They've given me, like, a kind of…_trial week_, if you like." there were raised eyebrows. "Basically it's a week of free tuition until I have my scholarship audition next week."

"Why are they delaying it?" asked Tina, sipping her drink whilst staring at him with a frown. Kurt sighed again.

"Sectionals…they don't want Blaine distracted, or something." there were raised eyebrows.

"That's _it_! _That's_ their excuse!" Mercedes looked ready to vent steam in indignation, and Kurt shrugged.

"Yeah…I guess." there was a pause in which Mercedes huffed, and the others frowned. "It's not so bad." assured Kurt. "I think I'm gonna need some time to get use to Dalton, anyway." there were raised eyebrows again. A look of concern crept onto Rachel's face.

"Why?" she asked, almost cautiously.

"It's just _so different_ from McKinley. I mean, they have _so many_ new rules…like, if a Captain of any kind of team comes walking down a corridor, you have to part like the friggin' Red Sea, same with teachers. Also, if a teacher walks into a classroom you have to stand up, and you can't sit down until they say so…and you can't stare at teachers, or meet their gaze at certain times, because it's "disrespectful" or something." the jaws of most of the girls had dropped open. Santana looked somewhat horrified, one of Quinn's eyebrows was arching delicately, Tina had wide eyes, Rachel had her face perfectly schooled into a looked that screamed "SHOCKED!" and Mercedes was just giving him a "you're-kidding-right?" look. Only Brittany looked completely unruffled.

"That sounds _amazing_!" exclaimed Rachel and Santana snorted loudly. Rachel shot her an annoyed look, before turning back to Kurt. "Do you like it?" Kurt shrugged.

"I don't know…it's nice to be able to walk down a corridor without being physically shoved into a locker or having a derogatory comment thrown at you, but…" he broke off, shrugging. "I think it's just going to take some time to get use to."

"So…" said Santana. "are all the boys roasting in their uniform?" Kurt smirked back at the Latina, trying to keep Blaine as far from his mind as he could.

"Yes, tells us all about Blaine!" Kurt groaned, as the eyes of the other girls lit up at Tina's words. Kurt shrugged.

"I don't know…I didn't see him that much today…he kind of…he helped to show me around, and get my books for the first lesson, and get the uniform and stuff, but then he sort of disappeared." there were more raised eyebrows, and most of them leant in to hear what they thought would be a juicy bit of gossip. "He got a phone call," explained Kurt calmly. "and then he went to answer it, but he never showed up again."

"Who called?" Kurt shrugged at Mercedes.

"I don't know…he just said he had to take it."

"Boyfriend?" asked Tina, after a little pause. Kurt shook his head.

"Nope, he likes the head boy."

"What, that Sebastian you were talking about?" Kurt nodded at Rachel.

"Yeah, and it doesn't help that they're doing a duet at Sectionals…and I'm wearing his uniform." there were more disbelieving looks at that.

"I thought it didn't fit." mused Mercedes. "He's…_bigger_ that you." Kurt snorted in agreement.

"I think you'll find the word "_broader_" is what's meant to be used." the rest of the girls sniggered.

"Is there no way for you to get a solo at Sectionals?" asked Rachel, and Kurt could feel his face fall.

"Kurt?" he sighed.

"I'm not going to even _be_ at Sectionals, let alone singing solo." there were shocked gasps from the girls at that.

"But _Kurt_," said Brittany in a sad voice. "you have to come…we won't be the New Directions without you! We'll be, like, the Wrong Directions." Kurt burst out into laughter, along with the other girls.

"Sorry, Britt, but I don't know what I can do."

"So you're not going to do _anything_?" asked Rachel, sounding almost scandalised. Kurt shrugged.

"I don't know…I think, tomorrow, I might go and ask Mr Lucey - he's the music director - whether I can get an audition, but he seems _weird_. He wanted to let me into the school because having me would allow him to have all the von Trapp children."

"Despite the fact that _five_ of them are _girls_?" Kurt shrugged.

"I know…that's what I said. He said he got it from nicknames." he shrugged again. "But I'm not sure he likes me, he kind of acted _odd_ when Mr Hammonds said I was going to sing against Blaine, like he thought I was going to be _terrible_!"

"But he doesn't know how amazing you are." said Mercedes confidently.

"Yeah, you'll go in and knock his socks off." agreed Rachel.

"And, hopefully, Blaine's clothes too." Kurt turned scarlet at Santana's grin and both Tina and Quinn choked on their drinks. Mercedes and Rachel both couldn't help but smile at the look of scandalised shock on Kurt's face, and Brittany tipped her head to the side.

"I'm not sure it would be good to have sex in front of your teachers, it might be awkward, especially with it being your first time." Kurt began to splutter in shock as the others cracked up, Mercedes spitting her drink all over the table. Kurt, utterly mortified by the cheerleaders' words, threw the napkins into Mercedes face, glowering at their smirking faces.

"_Shut up_!" they just continued to laugh, and, eventually, Kurt found himself dissolving into laughter too.

_It was such a relaxing situation, sitting in Breadsitxs with friends. Whatever my relationship with them has been. However frigid our relationship may have been, and however petty our squabbles, they're here for me now. These were the ones that tried to stand up for me, too, eventually. It was the girls that got behind me and spurred the boys into action…They're here for me when I need them…I guess that's the way the New Directions works. We stab each other in the back, and we scream, and storm out, but we love each other…and we're there, when it matters, and I still have them. Wherever my Dalton life may take me…I've got them. _

* * *

_This __**is**__ truly the longest day of my life. The best part of my day, without a doubt, was dinner at Breadstixs with the New Directions ladies. We sat and talked for hours, and they took __**great**__ pleasure of making fun of my crush (I think I'm in love but I am __**not**__ telling them that) on Blaine, and giving me their fierce opinion on all the people I've met. Now, I'm on the drive to Dalton. It's late and they've locked the gates…and I'm on the wrong side!_

Kurt slammed his head into the steering wheel of his car. He had parked his car on the long, winding, road that led up to Dalton, and he had no idea what he was meant to do now. It would have been okay, he reckoned, if he had the mobile numbers of any of the Dalton boys, but he didn't. He was completely alone. He had turned the engine off because he didn't want to drain the car, but now he was beginning to get cold.

Though he would never admit it, Kurt was beginning to get scared. He was half tempted to call his dad, but his dad could only call the reception desk of Dalton, and - given the fact that they'd locked the gates - there wasn't likely to be anyone there. He could, also, drive back to Lima, but he wasn't sure that that was safe; he was _exhausted_, and he could feel his eyelids drooping. It looked like he'd have to sleep in his car…That was a depressing and terrifying thought. He totally _didn't_ feel safe. It was completely dark all around him.

Kurt let out a long, exaggerated sigh, and reached for the torch that his dad had schooled him to keep in his glove box. He pulled it out, and turned it on, feeling comforted by the soft white beam, that spilt out of the windscree, and spread out across the bonnet of his car, just reaching the iron railings before him. He reached for the scarf that lay on the seat next to him, and wound it tightly round his neck. When that was done he opened the car door, removing the keys from the ignition at the same time, and stepped outside, shivering, and slamming the door behind him. He pulled his coat a little tighter around him, and trudged up to the high railings, the torch clamped tightly in his right hand.

The Dalton stood before him, an impressive shadow looming above him. The grounds were pitch black. The grass completely still due to the lack of wind. The main building was completely black, not even the faintest orange glow shining through the windows, but there were faint glimmers from the three housing buildings, and it made Kurt sigh, resting his head against the cold metal, his left hand clutching the railing before him.

"K-_Kurt_!" Kurt spun around, torch raised to clobber the person that had appeared behind him. He stopped though when saw, illuminated by the glow of their own torch, Thad standing before him, looking completely baffled. Kurt lowered his torch, switching it off when he noticed it's glow was redundant in the presence of Thad's heavy duty one.

"_Thad_!" he exclaimed. "_Don't_ sneak up on people!" the boy, wrapped in long black coat with a blue and red scarf around his neck, smiled, sheepishly at him.

"Sssorry." Kurt could feel his heart, that had rocketed into overdrive when it had processed the noise as a possible attack, continue to thud as the adrenaline took time to wear out of his body. Kurt blinked, rubbing his free hand over his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Thad, though, didn't answer. He continued to frown at Kurt, and then moved passed him to one of the pillars that supported the gate. He opened what looked like a tiny box, and punched in a code. The gates began to slide apart, and Kurt blinked in shock. Thad gave him, and then his car, a pointed look, and Kurt got the message. Mutely, Thad walked back to his own car, that Kurt was surprised to have not heard, and Kurt got into his own, driving into the school, and letting Thad close the gate behind him.

Kurt didn't feel relaxed, or vaguely safe, until he'd parked his car, and the constantly silent Thad had climbed out and come to stand by his side. With merely a brief gesture with his head, he began to lead Kurt back to Dalton. There was something _odd_ about his presence, and Kurt noticed that he was wearing smart black trousers, _not_ uniform. Had he been out on a date?

Thad punched in another code that allowed them to enter the entrance hall of Franklin. Kurt breathed out a sigh of relief as the door closed behind them. It was warmer in here, and he copied Thad as he took off his shoes. Thad shed his coat, and, again, Kurt copied him. Thad hung it up on a hook, and gestured to an empty one that Kurt could use. Kurt hung his coat up, and followed Thad into the common room. It was a little chilly, but Thad was already fiddling with a heater, holding his hands over it. Kurt took in Thad's appearance. He was wearing a black waistcoat and bow tie with a plain white shirt. He looked incredibly smart, and Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Date?" Thad jumped and saw that Kurt was still standing behind him. Slowly, he shook his head. Kurt nodded. "So…um, could you tell me those codes, in case that happens again." Thad made a noncommittal movement with his head.

"To Franklin…yes. The g-gate…no." Kurt frowned. He moved over to the radiator and began to warm his hands too.

"Why not?" he asked, genuinely confused. Thad swallowed, opened his mouth, seemed to stumble, then shrugged.

"Permissssion." Kurt nodded, slowly, in understanding, and Thad made to move off, quickly. Kurt followed him, up the stairs, and saw that Thad swing the door to his room open and freeze.

"Thad?" Thad spun around, frowning, clearly questioning his presence. "What's wrong?"

"Blaine…surprise." was all he said, and Kurt, walked over, standing over Thad, and peering into the room. Both the beds were made and completely empty. Kurt made an "ahh" of understanding.

"You didn't know he'd be out." Thad shook his head, before he shrugged. He made to move into the room and close the door, but Kurt caught the door. "Where's Blaine gone? I mean, did he come back? I haven't seen him since before lunch." Thad gave him a look that plainly asked why he cared. Kurt sighed, not understanding the Warbler before him. He sighed, wondering why he _did_ care.

_I'm in love with him. I took __**one look**__ at his __**perfect**__ features, and I just fell for it. Those hazel eyes. Those clearly tamed curls. I wonder what they look like loose. I just…I __**want**_ _to know him. I've never wanted anything this badly before. It's worse than Finn…far, far worse. It's…it's an uncontrollable fire inside of me. It's eating me up. It's destroying any capability for rational thought. It's…I care because…I care because I didn't choose to…it just __**happened**__! Just like everything else in my life it seems to be completely out of my control. This is getting frustrating._

* * *

Blaine never made it back to Franklin. Blaine never made it to dinner. Neither did David. After Warblers, in which him and Sebastian were successfully voted as the leads, and they even got the song done. The choreography was coming along quite well. David was the one in charge of that, and even Luc had looked impressed by some of the moves he'd pulled.

The two of them had been called back by Wes who had presently left the two of them, promising that he would be back soon. The two Warblers had then been left standing, together, in the choir room.

"Aren't you mad at Sebastian?" that was the first thing David had demanded. Blaine shook his head.

"They never said it'd be last night." David arched an eyebrow.

"Sebastian might not have said it you…but Wes told me." that flawed Blaine for a second.

"Ah…" he frowned. "Look, I don't know what's going on, but…look I _trust_ Sebastian." David rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but you also _love_ him."

"And you _idolise_ Wes." they reached a stalemate in their semi-argument. David sighed, rolling his eyes, and flopping onto a sofa.

"What happened to you?" he asked, suddenly. "You know you're in _deep_ shit with your teachers…skiving off like that." Blaine shrugged.

"I just…I needed some time to think…ended up having some sort of heart-to-heart with Luc." David looked at him, once, expecting him to say he was joking. Once he saw Blaine's completely straight face, he burst out laughing.

"_Seriously_! You had a heart to heart with _Luc_!" Blaine nodded, and then raised his eyebrows.

"It's not _that_ funny. Weird as he may be, but he's not a bad guy…he gives quite good advice, despite what he says." David nodded, pulling a contemplative face. Then he burst out laughing again.

"I'm _sorry_! I just- I _can't_ imagine having a _meaningful_ conversation with Luc…it's too much for my mind." Blaine nodded, slumping down onto the sofa next to him.

"I know… I know what you mean, but, still, Luc's a pretty awesome guy." David sighed.

"Yeah…I dunno, I get the impression he doesn't really _like_ me." Blaine managed to crack a small smile.

"He does _like_ you…he just, he doesn't like you as much as he does people like Wes, Sebastian, Juri…"

"You." Blaine paused for a second, before he nodded.

"Yeah…I guess." they fell into silence once more. David tapped out the beat of the song that they were going to perform against his knee. Blaine looked at him, some words hovering on the tip of his tongue that he desperately wanted to say.

"I don't think I'm going to throw it." David's head snapped around. He blinked rapidly, looking shocked.

"_What_?" Blaine sighed, his body sinking into the sofa cushions a little more.

"Cooper called."

"_What_?"

"I know." he said, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "It shocked me too. He's coming home early, and he said he'd be there for the Autumn Concert." David groaned out loud, sensing where this was going. "And he said that he was going to convince _dad_ to come." David threw his hands over his face.

"That is just…man, your luck _sucks_!" Blaine snorted.

"You're telling me! He said dad would only come, though, if I sang solo. He thinks that, now he's an "actor", he can convince dad that my singing is a gift as opposed to some dirty little secret. He thinks that if dad sees how talented I am, he might just be swayed." David groaned.

"Oh god…that's just…man that _sucks_."

"I _know_, right?" David paused, running a hand over his head.

"Do you think, though, that your father will be pleased to see you singing on stage with another guy…one that you're going to _blatantly_ flirt with…without even _thinking _about it." Blaine groaned, wondering exactly how _every conversation_ he had managed to turn itself into a teasing fest about him and Sebastian.

"_David_…"

"I'm just saying…when the two of you are on stage together it's like no one else exists, you flirt shamelessly. I mean, you put _Nick_ to shame." Blaine turned scarlet. He grabbed one of the cushions and began to attack David. He beat the taller boy off the sofa. David growled, and stood up, glaring at Blaine's smirking face. "You're _dead_, Anderson!" he snatched up another cushion and flew at Blaine. Their bodies collided, and both boys let out loud "oofs" off pain as the wind was knocked from their bodies.

They toppled off the sofa, whacking each other as hard as they could with the pillows, quite forgetting the decorum they were meant to have as students of Dalton Academy. They emitted loud yells and cries as they continued to pound each other in a friendly manner, and, so, didn't hear anybody re-entering the room. The moment they realised there were other people in the choir room with them was when they were grabbed off the floor, rather roughly, a gag went into Blaine's mouth, and he fought as he could, hearing David struggling too. However, his resistance was cut short when bag was stuffed over his head, and he was lifted bodily from the ground.

* * *

_I don't know how many times that I've thought this, but it's not going away; I __**do not**__ understand this school! Thad's closed his door, now, not saying another word after that thing about not expecting Blaine to be out. Juri's fast asleep, but he's still got his headphones hooked up to a walkman. I'm not sure whether I should take them off or not. He's not the tidiest of roommates…we're going to have a __**serious**__ talk about that if this arrangement is going to work…and there's too much __**music**__ - never thought I'd say that - but this guy needs some sort of __**filing system**__ because he's just leaving sheet music and manuscript paper all over the floor_.

Kurt removed the last bits of paper, and books, from his side of the room and sat down on his bed. For some reason, despite being ready to fall asleep when he was back in the car, he suddenly didn't feel tired at all. Kurt now felt alert, and more than a little bit confused and worried. There was something wrong with Thad, though none of the other boys he'd spoken with seemed to think that so maybe he was just overreacting because he was new, but in Kurt's mind, no one should be that quiet. It just seemed…_unhealthy_, and the stuttering too, that was a bit odd. Kurt had heard him answer questions in both classes without a trace of hesitation, or drawing out the sound of words like he did with the word "sorry", or "s" sounds in general.

Then there was Blaine. Again, he might be missing something because Thad didn't seem fazed and he was new, but it didn't feel _right_ that Blaine was gone at this time of the night, with no one knowing where he was. However, Kurt didn't know whether he was just overreacting because he was a touch jumpy after everything that had happened at McKinley - Kurt was beginning to realise that the bullying had affected him more than he'd thought - or whether he ought to be running around and calling the police because Blaine was missing.

And why, oh why, could he _not_ get Blaine out of his head? Stupid hormone poisoning. Whatever he was feeling was due to his overactive hormones…stupid endorphins. Kurt hated the heightened state of emotions that he seemed to find himself in; he could flit from being calm, to angry, to worried, to confused, to relaxed, to happy, within the duration of a couple of minutes. He could go from feeling overwhelmed by the apparent care he was being shown by the Dalton boys, to infuriated because they didn't seem to care _enough_.

It was too much for Kurt. He buried his head in his pillow. He'd never seen himself as someone who would get homesick, but he suddenly missed his father. He missed the dresser that smelt like his mother. He had never wanted to go and lie down by it more than now. It was like someone had carved out a hole in his heart. He'd always had his home, no matter what, he'd always been able to go back to his house and be in a place of safety. It was like a sanctuary, but he couldn't drive home whenever he want…it was a _four hour_ round trip. He was stuck at Dalton, alone.

He needed that feeling of security because he felt _so vulnerable_ in that moment. So vulnerable because he felt like he was in a world he didn't understand. He _was_ in a world he didn't understand. Dalton had it's rules, and it's residents had their quirks, and everyone else understood that, but Kurt. Kurt was the outsider. He felt like that. With all their pointed looks, and understanding, but they _couldn't_ understand. Only Blaine could because it had happened to him, and even then it wasn't the same. Blaine's future had never been uncertain; he'd gotten straight in because he came from some rich family, but Kurt couldn't do that because his dad wasn't ridiculously rich.

The scream he let out into the pillow was muffled. Kurt had never known himself to loose control like this, but in the moment he needed a release, and this time it had to be that. He screamed, hot tears that he'd held back for weeks finally falling down his face. He picked up the pillow, and flung it across the room, the tears continuing to pour from his eyes and down his cheeks. He was _so _angry.

_Why did this happen to me? Why did people __**care**__? What did it __**matter**__ if I like guys? Why did Karofsky have to do __**that**__ to me? Why did he have to be __**so selfish**__? He took my first proper kiss from me! Brittany wasn't my first kiss…she was just a…a __**stupid**__ mistake! It didn't __**count**__! She was just…I can't even describe how __**unreal**__ my relationship with Brittany was! But Karofsky…he kissed me with…with __**passion**__! It was angry, and it was full of self-loathing, but it was __**real**__, and I don't even __**like**__ him, not like that, I __**couldn't**__ because…He threatened to kill me! I was terrified because…I __**believed**__ him! I thought…I genuninely thought he would kill me! I just- he's ruined __**everything**__! I feel like I have __**nothing**__ now…but…I just…I don't understand how I could feel so…alive, and happy, and __**loved**__ a few hours ago…but now…now I feel empty, alone. _

* * *

Blaine's heart was going crazy when he was placed on the ground. Judging by the cold air, and the smell of trees, Blaine guessed he'd been carried around to the back of Dalton. In fact he was probably underneath the tree house. He wondered if David was next to him. He could hear shallow breathing, and feet crossing the grass. Blaine would have called out if the gag hadn't been covering his mouth. He would have gotten to his feet, but his coordination could be dodgy at the best of times, and he couldn't guarantee he wouldn't just fall flat on his face.

Suddenly, two hands came inside the bag. Blaine leapt from fright, and then tried to curse as they tied a blindfold around his eyes. He could feel the bag come off, and the gag was removed from his mouth. He panted, heavily, a couple of times, flexing his mouth before he called out.

"_David_!"

"Shh!" two hands clamped over his mouth, but Blaine felt the tension leave his body. Even from that small noise he recognised the voice.

"Sebastian?" he got no reply though, and then his own name was called.

"_Blaine_!" there was another shushing sound, and then David's faint reply of; "Wes?"

"Climb the tree." it wasn't Wes or Sebastian's but Blaine definitely recognised it. He was pulled to his feet, and his hands were placed against a branch.

"I can't." he said, voice cracking. He didn't want to let Sebastian down, but he couldn't climb a tree _blindfolded in the dark_. There was a pause before David spoke.

"If we fall, would you catch us?" there was a low chuckle.

"What else do you think we'd do?" he heard David sigh, and then grunt as he pulled himself up the tree. Blaine swallowed. He closed his eyes, and reached.

It was easily one of the scariest moments in his life. The only one that he thought that was comparable to this was the time he'd had the crap beaten out of him after the Sadie Hawkins Dance; he'd thought the boys might kill him, and strangely enough, he felt kind of similar right now. He knew that there was someone, not David because David was above him, climbing next to him. He guessed that if something happened they'd grab him, but it was disorientating, and he kept second guessing every move he made, worried that something would snap.

"You know," he heard David say, and guessed that he'd reached the tree house. "you really need to get a rope ladder." there was laughter at that, and Blaine felt his hands connect with the horizontal wood of the tree house floor.

"Come on, Blaine." he heard voices egging him on as he pushed himself up, and crawled inside. Unlike David, Blaine couldn't think of anything witty to say. He just felt sick, and dizzy. He could feel the sweat, even though it was a cold night, trickling off him. He took a huge breath, tried to straighten up, and promptly toppled over backwards.

"Whoa!" exclaimed several people, and Blaine guessed he'd just come pretty close to falling out of the tree house backwards.

"Take it easy." that was definitely Wes, and Blaine allowed himself to be pushed and pulled to safety.

"Can we take these blindfolds of now?" he demanded. "_Before_ I kill myself." there was more laughter, and the blindfold was removed from his eyes.

Blaine looked around the tree house and saw that every surface had been draped in black. His eyes met David's and was slightly annoyed to find his friend looking completely unruffled, and clearly eager for whatever was going to happen next. Blaine was meant to be the unflappable one, but right now the only time he'd been _more_ out of his depth had been his first week or so at Dalton.

"What the fuck?" he demanded, and looked for Sebastian who was smirking at him, actually _fucking_ smirking. There was a moment of silence in which the other people in the tree house realised that Blaine was actually _angry_.

"Blaine take a deep breath." said Sebastian, walking towards his palms facing Blaine and fingers splayed, as if he was some sort of wild animal. Blaine, despite his desire to rage and storm, took a deep gulp of air. "I know you _hate_ heights, and I _promise_ that if _anything _had happened we would have been there to grab you…it's just…" he trailed off, expression turning beseeching. "we were just _testing_ you."

"And you passed." added Wes. "with full marks." there was a moment in which Blaine and David looked at each other.

"Wait! Wait!" said David, blinking in confusion. "_That_ was our initiation." Wes and Sebastian shared sneaky looks.

"That was phase _one_ of your initiation." Sebastian nodded, before turning to his blonde friend.

"Liam, if you would?" the boy nodded, snatched up a rope and freakin' _leapt_ from the tree house. There must have been some pulley system in place because a hook with a weight on the end came rocketing up, and Liam gave the boys the thumbs up when he hit the ground. Blaine turned to meet David's gaze again, both boys wondering what they'd gotten themselves into.

* * *

_I'm so tired. That's the problem. I'm just __**so tired**__ of feeling scared and lonely, and __**lost**__. I just- I can't talk to __**anyone**__. Not dad, he'd just get angry, and whilst he tries to be understanding he just __**can't**__…and there's really no one else that I trust enough. Mercedes is my friend, but I just…it's too confusing for me. I can't even explain __**how**__ I feel most of the time. _

He sunk his head back down onto bed, despite there being no pillow. He let the tears fall, knowing that it might make him feel better in the long run. He was desperate for some kind of release about the whole thing. He just…he thought moving away from McKinley, out of Lima, would give him that, but the sudden change in his life left him feeling disconnected and lonely. It wasn't helping him at all. It was almost like he needed to _talk_ about it, but he didn't _want_ to. He didn't…he didn't think that he could really say how he felt to anyone. He was more than happy to say he was in love with Blaine, even to his face, because that feeling made him _so happy_, but the others…the ones that cut straight through him…he felt as if he would be exposing _everything he was _if he talked about it.

A large part of Kurt wanted to get up and sing, _but_ it was the middle of the night, and he highly doubted that any of the other people in Franklin would appreciate him doing that. He got to his feet, and moved into the bathroom. There he picked up the box of tissues that he guessed Juri kept there, and blew his nose. He threw it in the bin, and then washed his face, trying to get rid of any trace of the tear tracks. He opened a cupboard and drew out a fresh hand towel rubbing it over his face, and noting that he was _too_ pale. He sighed, running a hand across his face.

Kurt walked out of the bathroom. He glanced at Juri, and then did a double take as he noticed the navy blue collar of his Dalton blazer. Kurt crept over to his side, and peeled back the duvet cover, and, sure enough, he saw that Juri was fully dressed in his Dalton uniform. Kurt shook his head, and tugged the headphones off his ears, and pressed the pause button on his walkman. Straightening up, Kurt frowned as he continued to hear the tinkle of a piano. He had assumed it had been Juri's music, but now he was unsure. Striding to the door, he opened it, and wandered down the hallway and peered over the banister into the common. There was another piano there, and there was a dark haired boy sitting at it. Kurt crept down the stairs, intrigued, as he heard only chords, no definite melody, and he certainly didn't recognise it.

_Wait for me!_

_Wait for me!_

The melody off the two sung vocal lines was simple; he started high and fell down in the form of an arpeggio, his voice increasing in volume on the second one. Kurt didn't recognise this at all, and he was beginning to wonder whether the boy at the piano had written it himself.

_And I will come!_

The notes were higher, and he was clearly reaching the top of his vocal range as he climbed up to the word "will". His voice almost cracked as he held the note, and when he resolved, down, onto the "come" he sounded far more certain. Kurt crept up behind him, and then tripped over a textbook on the floor. He slammed, hard, into floor with a yell, and the boy at the piano stool.

"_Kurt_?" Kurt peered up, and saw that Thad was staring down him, incredulously. Kurt stood up, brushing down his uniform and smiling, slightly, at the other boy.

"Sorry, I heard the piano…I was curious, did you write that yourself?" Thad, who had begun to give him a suspicious look, slowly nodded. Kurt took a seat in an armchair and stared at him. "Why are you still awake?" Thad gave Kurt a look that said; 'I-could-ask-you-the-same-thing!'. Kurt sighed. It was difficult having a conversation with Thad. "What house are the others in?" he asked, eventually, having only seen Thad in here. Thad stared, blankly at him. Kurt fought the urge to roll his eyes. "You know, Nick, Jeff, David…"

"Harriot, Putnam, Putnam, Harriot." Kurt paused for a second, before realising that Nick was in Harriot, and Jeff and David were in Putnam.

"Flint's in Harriot?" he asked, for clarification. Thad nodded. Kurt noticed that Thad had changed out of the smart clothes he had been wearing, and was now in tracksuit bottoms and a plain white t-shirt. His hair was messy, and he looked pale faced in the yellow glow of the lamp by the piano. Kurt didn't really know what to do or say. "Are you…Thad are you okay?" Thad frowned at him.

"You…you don't ask me that." Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Um…what?" Thad shook his head, and got to his feet.

"No one asks me that." and it was only when Thad had left the common room, and walked into his bedroom, that Kurt realised he had not stuttered or paused once in that sentence.

_Okay…that was odd. There's something wrong with him, but I'm not…__**allowed**__?- to ask what. I wish the others were in my house. I think that if Nick or Jeff were here I wouldn't feel half as confused. They might not answer my questions, but I'm sure that they'd cheer me up. I hope that, when tomorrow rolls around I'll find it less confusing…and I get some singing practise done because I can't let myself get distracted_.

* * *

Blaine had _no idea_ what was going on when he and David were sat on the ground in the middle of the circle of seniors. Liam had returned and handed them both a bowl full of beans. Him and David were facing each other, and staring at Sebastian and Wes, respectively, who they could see over the others' shoulders. They were both smiling, but Blaine didn't know if that was a good thing or not. Like all the boys at Dalton, including himself, their favourite form of humour was the humiliation and/or accidental harm of another.

"Alright, this task is simple. All you have to do is eat the beans." Blaine looked at David, both thinking the same thing; what's the catch?

"And?" prompted David.

"No and." said Wes with a childish grin. "Just eat the beans." Blaine looked at David, neither one of them inclined to eat one first. Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"Come on, guys, don't you trust us at all?"

"Not with that smile on your face, Wes." said David, and the other boys laughed. Blaine frowned down at the bowl. He didn't really _get_ what was going on, but he wanted to be in with Sebastian and the others. He reached down and took a bean. He put it into his mouth.

"_Urgh_!" he cried, spitting it out, almost choking. "That's _rubber_!" he exclaimed, spitting onto the floor. All the Seniors were rolling around in laughter. They all cackled. David picked the bowl turned around and threw the beans onto Wes' head.

"Second phase, complete, for David." Blaine gaped at them.

"_What_?"

"You're already trusted us, Blaine…why would it test it again?" Blaine flushed, glaring at Sebastian. Wes beckoned to David.

"Come David, sit in the circle." David squished in between Wes and Mac. Blaine ground his teeth.

"So, what now?"

"Liam?" the blonde got back to his feet, stretched once and produced a live rat from inside a box at the back of the tree house. He handed it, inside it's cage, to Blaine. Blaine raised his eyebrows.

"Um…what?" the boys shrugged.

"You decide what to do with it." said Sebastian, leaning back slightly, and Blaine reckoned he understood. Wes and Sebastian shared a common phobia of rats. They knew that one of him and David would fail the challenge, and so were giving them chance for revenge. Blaine tilted his head to the side.

"If I dropped it from here, would it die?"

"I hope so." muttered Wes and David shot him a look that said 'It's-not-the-rats-fault'. Wes shrugged and Sebastian shivered and scooted out of the way as Blaine made his way to the door of the tree house. Blaine sighed and turned to Liam.

"Could you take this and let it free?" Liam rolled his eyes, clearly wondering why he bothered to catch it in the first place, and swung himself down. The circle burst into applause.

"Right choice." said Wes and Sebastian indicated to the space that had be Liam's. Blaine sat down and Sebastian leant towards him, his lips millimetres from his ears.

"Thank you," he breathed. "I _hate_ rats." Blaine smiled, trying to ignore the shivers that were running down his spine at Sebastian's close proximity and his low voice.

"I know," Blaine muttered in return. "that's why I did it." he could _feel_ the heat in his cheeks as the rest of the circle stared at them.

"Thank you." breathed Sebastian again, and retracted himself from Blaine's personal space as Liam returned, rolled his eyes at the sight of his stolen seat, and squished in somewhere else.

"Right, now that your little tête-à-tête is over, I have a final question. Blaine Anderson; do you accept who you are wholly and fully?"

"Yes."

"Do you feel shame about any part of you as a person both physically and emotionally?"

"No."

"Do you promise to love every person as an equal, and to show no discrimination upon _any_ grounds?"

"Yes."

"And do you promise to encourage and teach all to reach the same stage of acceptance that you have achieved?"

"Yes." there was a small pause in which Wes stared at him, levelly, and then Sebastian fixed David with the same stared, repeating the same questions and getting the same response. There was another pause, and then a cheer went up. Sebastian flung his arm around Blaine, pulling him close to his chest, and Blaine let out a giddy smile. Wes half-strangling David as he hugged him, and Blaine could see their easy friendship returning once more. Sebastian let him go, eventually, and Blaine found that he missed the warmth that emanated from Sebastian's body. Maybe Luc was right after all, maybe Blaine _should_ ask him out.

* * *

_Oh god. I feel so stiff, and __**what**__ is that banging sound. Oh no…I better not be where I think I am…ah crap! I fell asleep in the armchair, and I think that banging is coming from the kitchen. So, either everyone gets hungry in the right, or it's morning…and I'm sleeping the clothes I wore yesterday! This is…urgh!_

Kurt got to his feet, trying to smooth the wrinkles from his clothes as Chris came pounding down the stairs. He looked Kurt over once, ran into the kitchen, and then back out backwards.

"_Kurt_! _There_ you are!" Kurt blinked, rubbing a hand over his eyes, and feeling tired.

"What?"

"We were looking for you last night…you just kind of _vanished_." Kurt blinked again.

"What?"

"We figured that you must have left the grounds, eventually…you can't just do that. You need to sign out."

"Oh, right, thanks." he moved into the kitchen and nodded at Chris' offer of coffee. Several other boys were there, and the source of the banging seemed to be the toaster that was rattling around in an unnatural manner. "What the hell's up with that?"

"Huh?" said Chris, looking around and then spotting where Kurt's gaze was fixed. "Oh, Fred "_improved_" it." Kurt arched an eyebrow, and gulped down the coffee, barely wincing as it burnt his throat. "Oh, and how did you get it in? You don't have the code, and Juri and I stayed up till past ten." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Thad let me in." Chris frowned for a split second before nodding.

"Well aren't you the lucky one, any other day and you'd be sleeping in the car." Kurt would not count himself as lucky, after everything that happened, but shrugged.

"Can you tell me the code to Franklin."

"What? Oh yeah, 2-4-6-0-1." Kurt nodded, and then raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously?" Chris nodded, making to move out of the kitchen.

"Sebastian's sense of humour for you." was all he said in reply as he dashed out, and then in again.

"Mrs Daniels wants to see you, by the way, about leaving without signing out." Kurt groaned, and Chris gave him a sympathetic smile before dashing off.

_Just what I need, a visit to my new least favourite teacher, and I'm going to be yelled at for sure. In some ways I wish I'd been sent to Hammonds, at least he's nice. Either way, how was __**I**__ meant to know when they'd lock the gates, no one mentioned it to me, same with the signing out deal. _

* * *

"_Blaine_!" Blaine groaned, clamping his hands over his ears as his head throbbed and protested at the loud sound. "Blaine for fuck's sake; _get up_!" he groaned, prising his eyes opened and recoiling at the bright light. Liam was standing over him, a disapproving look on his face and bruise festering above his left eyebrow.

"Liam?" he sat up, and saw Sebastian, David, and Wes all doing the same thing, similar pained, confused and tired, expressions on their faces. "What happened?" he asked, noting the slightly destroyed look to the interior of the tree house.

"You trashed the tree house, that's what. Now _get up_, Hammonds is _really_ pissed off with all of you." Liam was clearly busy cleaning up the mess they'd made, and Blaine rubbed a hand over his face and nearly lost his balance as he tried to stand.

"Shut up, Liam." grumbled Sebastian. "Save the talking for when you're Javert." Liam shot him an annoyed look, and folded his arms across his chest.

"You were meant to be in Hammonds' office _ten minutes ago_. He's in a bad mood- _suspension_ bad." that shocked the four boys right out of their hung over state.

"Fuck!" exclaimed Wes, leaping to his feet, and heading for the exit.

"_Thank_ you!" exclaimed Liam as they descended and ran across the grounds.

* * *

_I'm beginning to think Mrs Daniels missed the part about me being new…She's been ranting at me for the past __**half hour**__ about my behaviour since I got here. Professor Lloyd is here, but she seems mildly sympathetic. Apparently Sebastian is meant to be here too, accept he's been called to see Hammonds. It sounded serious…I wonder what he's done._

"…and I _do know_ that you're new, but both Sebastian and Blaine are under an _immense_ amount of pressure at the moment. They can't be expected to tell you everything, and there are _certain_ things you should ask; curfew being one of them. If Thad hadn't have come along you'd be stuck out there, still." Kurt rubbed his hand over his right eye, and tried hard not to yawn.

"Look, Mrs Daniels, I think we can accept that there was fault on both parties, and that Kurt should be let off. It's been stressful for him too, moving schools. I say we call it a first time error, and move on."

* * *

"…this is _completely_ _unacceptable_! I am _incredibly disappointed _in _all_ of you! Sebastian you're _Head Boy_. David, Wes, you're on _Warbler Council_, and Blaine…you're one of our _most talented_ students. What on _earth_ possessed you to loose your heads like that?" No one answered. They had not realised that they'd been blaring music across the grounds or shouting and screaming at the tops of their voices.

"We're _very sorry_, sir."

"It won't happen again."

"I'm afraid that's not good enough. I am placing you under House Arrest for the rest of the term." their mouths hung open. "You will not leave Dalton grounds for anything."

"But, sir, _Sectionals_."

"_Accept_ for Academic or school based activities. You will not leave your house for anything other than lessons, or a list cleared activities. You will eat only lunch in the cafeteria. Do you understand me?" there were grudging nods. "You should be a little more grateful that's all I've done; I could have suspended you." there was a moment of silent horror. "Now _get_ _out_ of my office.

* * *

"It's not just that. I am _Deputy Head_, when students are called to my office I expect a level of decorum and attire. Mr Hummel has not reached _either_. His clothing is appalling - he must remember that these are _not_ his clothes, and that they have been leant to him - and he has remained slouched in a most unappealing manner."

"Yes, but I think it's more important that, right now, Kurt goes to lessons. Come along." Kurt got up and followed his head of house.

_Wow, I think she wanted to put me in detention, and it turns out Professor Lloyd isn't so bad after all…though I wonder how much she'll want to stand up for me after our next English lesson. This has been one hell of an introduction to a new school. What's more, I'm completely exhausted, I've not looked over any of the catch up notes…and I now have to face a __**whole day**__ of lessons…_

* * *

**Next Time- Open Up: Kurt continues to struggle with the school work, but he finds himself drawing closer to the other boys who are beginning to stress over their upcoming series of performances, until a conversation with Luc leads Kurt to a heated confrontation with Blaine…**


	5. Open Up

**The Scholarship**

**Episode 5: Open Up**

_I missed breakfast thanks to Mrs Daniels, so now I'm sat in Algebra with an empty to stomach and a few hours of uncomfortable sleep. Oh, and an open textbook that's turned to a page I haven't covered yet. The other boys around me, well, I don't have __**a clue**__ who they are. I don't think I can put a name to __**anyone**__ in this classroom…well, accept the teacher because he told me his. The guy sat next to me either can't understand English, or doesn't want to talk to me because he hasn't answered any of my questions. The teacher's no help, either, he thinks that I'm "clearly a bright boy" and so I can "pick it up in no time". That's all great and everything, but I had to label any subject as my worse; it's probably Maths. I'm not bad at it, in fact I was almost top of my class at McKinley, but this is __**Dalton**__, and everything's different. _

Kurt rubbed his hands over his eyes, and once more peered at his neighbour's work. As far as he could tell he was meant to be factorising the equation, but he didn't know where to start

"…_here at Dalton we try to promote independent learning, Mr Hummel, we are here, of course, if you need us, but we would prefer for you to learn how to teach yourselves." _

"…_of course you can ask Kurt, but you should also try learning from your peers. Try asking those around for help. It will enrich you, Kurt, I promise." _

Kurt huffed and flicked back in the textbook, trying to apply the example to the problem he was facing. He continued to stare at it as if he could make the numbers reveal the answer to him through the power of his mind. However the problem, 16x^2 - y^2 - 6y - 9, did not change or give him any hint as to how to solve it.

Mr Hartfield gave him a disappointed look when he saw that Kurt had not completed a single question. Kurt had given up and attempted to move on, only to find that he couldn't complete any of them at which point he'd returned to the first question.

"Well it's a good effort…how about I set you some easier questions as catch up work?" Kurt nodded, trying not to feel disheartened. Mr Hartfield looked up and seemed to read through his expression. "Don't be disheartened Kurt, I'm sure with some time and practise you'll catch up _fine_, everybody does…talk to Blaine, he struggled, I remember." Mr Hartfield nodded, more to himself than Kurt, and began to pack his bag.

"So which questions?"

"Flick through the earlier chapters, what you can do; skip over, what you can't…You should be able to get the answers of anybody else. Who are you friends with?"

"Juri, Blaine, Nick, Jeff…"

"Oh, that whole group?" Kurt shrugged.

"I guess so, yes." Mr Hartfield seemed to contemplate for a second.

"Speak to Flint, he has a natural…_affinity _with Maths." Kurt nodded.

"Thank you, sir." Mr Hartfield nodded.

"Good luck, by the way." Kurt turned around, surprised. "Your audition, isn't it soon?" Kurt shrugged.

"I don't think it's till next week." Mr Hartfield nodded, opened his mouth as if to say something, and then closed it again.

"Well, good luck for then…have you spoken to Mr Lucey about it?" he asked, lightly, as the two of them exited the classroom together. Kurt shook his head. "You might want to do that, the man is _brilliant_, there's no questioning it…but he lacks a degree of…_organisation_." Kurt nodded, standing a little straighter at his teacher's words. Mr Hartfield stopped along with Kurt as Kurt pulled out his timetable and examined the corridors. "You're lost aren't you?" Kurt rolled his eyes and nodded.

"This place is confusing."

"Where are you going?"

"French."

"Follow me."

_Well, it looks like there's __**one**__ teacher that I'm going to get along with at this school. Mr Hartfield is pretty cool - when his not spouting his "independent learning" crap. He seems interested in everything that happened at McKinley, I'm not sure I want to tell him, though…I don't want to tell a __**teacher**__, mainly because they'll feel it their duty to report it to my father, and I don't want that to happen because if dad finds out what happened in the locker room…I don't even want to think about __**that**__. _

* * *

Kurt found a spare seat in his French class next to one of the boys he recognised from the lunch table yesterday, Fred. He was glad to find that this was a lesson he could manage in because French he seemed to be at the same level, and in an exceptional case slightly above, the rest of the class. His French teacher, who was young and very pretty (even if Kurt thought her glasses were _atrocious_), seemed very impressed by his accent, 80% of which Kurt credited to the 14 and a half minute long Celine Dion medley that Coach Sylvester had forced him to do in French. The other 20% he credited to his general talent and ability to be amazing.

Kurt made it through to lunch on a mixture of silence, luck and helpful neighbours. He had Biology and Chemistry back to back, and found himself sat next to Nick in one - who wasn't in a great mood, but was willing to explain the different stages of cell division to him, and Flint - who also didn't look _too_ happy, but, again, was willing to show Kurt his notes from the previous lesson. Kurt was glad to see that he didn't seem to have missed too much, but was still piled a sizable chunk of catch up work.

_It seems that Dalton has a certain love of drowning it's new students in catch up work. When am I meant to do all this? I've got homework, and I __**need**__ to get my singing practise done. Hammonds said that if I didn't hand stuff in I'd be punished…great! Maybe I should speak to Blaine, I'm sure he'd help me if I asked. Maybe Juri can help, too, though from the look of him he's about as tired as I am. He barely even smiled at me in Chemistry, it was like his eyes just zoned straight through me. Weird. _

* * *

"_Why_ are you so cross with me?" Kurt jumped and snapped from his thoughts of Juri, who had vanished after Chemistry had ended, and looked at the other people at the table. Flint had his arms crossed over his chest and was glaring at Nick, who was glaring back at him with an equally intense glare.

"Oh, I don't know! Maybe because I just got dumped _your_ part!" Nick jabbed a knife at Flint, and David reached over, making to snatch the blade from between his fingers, but Nick jerked his arm out of the way. "And _don't_ come near me, David! I'm pissed off with you, _too_!"

"_Why_?" demanded Jeff. "_What_ did we do? As far as _I_ can tell, you're pissed off with _everybody_ who isn't Thad or Blaine!"

"Oh, and I wonder why that is! Come on, Thad." Nick had gotten to his feet, picking up his bag, and Thad looked torn.

"Thad what's going on?" demanded David, turning on the other boy. Thad glanced between the boys at the table and Nick.

"_Thad_!"

"Les Mis." was all he said before he leapt to his feet and scurried away after Nick. Kurt, who had watched the argument with a shocked expression, turned to the boys at the table with a raised eyebrow.

"_Les Mis_?" he questioned, but he didn't get an answer because all the boys had groaned and slumped their heads into their hands or onto the table.

"Crap." muttered Jeff after a couple of minutes of silence.

"Double crap." added David. Then Flint's head jerked off the table.

"_Holy shit_!" he cried. Every head in the cafeteria, including that of teacher's, turned towards the brown haired Warbler who was sitting there with his mouth hanging open.

"Mr _Wilson_, my office, _now_." Flint gulped as Mrs Daniels came striding down from the staff table, and he slowly slid out of his seat.

"If I die, make sure Nick cries at my funeral." the other boys snorted, and he walked after Mrs Daniels with his head hung. After the door closed, and everyone else had looked away, the Juniors at the table with Kurt all leaned in at once.

"Do you _really_ think he gave the role of Marius to Nick?" asked Jeff, in an urgent whisper.

"No _way_," said Blaine, shaking his head. "Our first show is on Saturday, _no way_ can Nick get that part perfect in time. It'd be _insane_ to try."

"Well it's a good thing Luc's in charge then." the three boys snorted, as one, and Blaine sighed.

"Besides if Nick became Marius, we'd have to do a _major_ cast reshuffle. I mean, who would play Enjolras?"

"You, probably." Blaine snorted, looking at the table for a second.

"Okay, you make a good point, but still…" he shrugged. "No way, I wouldn't let him." the other two snorted incredulously, Jeff actually knocking his drink over.

"_You_ wouldn't let him!" Blaine rolled his eyes, leaning backwards, away from the spillage as Jeff gaped at him instead of mopping it up.

"I just meant, David, I wouldn't say yes if he offered me the part, and that juice is about to drip into your bag."

"Really?" Blaine glared at Jeff, who had dumped his jumper onto the table, over the damp patch

"I'm not some ambition driven machine! I think Nick and Flint are _awesome_, and I want Flint, just like the rest of you, to get that lead next year."

"Damn that's gonna be awesome."

"Totally, I'd, like, _fly_ to New York and drag his parents down." there were more quiet laughs and nods, and Kurt just sat there, looking between the three boys who seemed to have forgotten that he existed. It was incredible, and it hurt far more than Kurt could ever have imagined it would.

_I guess there's only one thing to do then. I have to stop acting invisible. That's the problem with this uniform, you blend in with everyone. At McKinley, for better or for worse, I always stood out from everyone else, even if most of that attention had resulted in me being shoved into a locker or being called "lady". Now, though, in this uniform that isn't even mine I blend away, and though that's half of what I wanted, it doesn't seem to feel right._

"Kurt." he looked up and saw that David was waving a hand up and down in front of his face. "You alright there, mate?" Kurt blinked.

"What?"

"You _totally_ zoned out there for a second." Kurt blinked, noting the amused gazes in their eyes and he felt his cheeks flush at the humorous glint to Blaine's eyes.

"Right, yeah, well, I _didn't_ understand what you were talking about." there were slow nods.

"What were you thinking about instead?" asked Blaine, curiously, and all powers of speech failed Kurt. He _couldn't_ tell Blaine that he had just been fuming over how they ignored him.

"Was there a certain _someone_ on your mind?" asked Jeff, teasingly. Kurt blinked. Then he remembered their amused expression when he'd first met Blaine. They knew. He swallowed. They knew _and_ they were teasing him about it, but Blaine _didn't_ know, going by his look of confusion.

"Wait, you have a boyfriend?" he looked curious, and Kurt felt his heart leap.

_Is he interested? Does this mean that he likes me. If he didn't he wouldn't be curious, right? I mean, we barely know each other…it's not like with Mercedes and the others. He wouldn't care unless he liked me?_

"Kurt?" Kurt shook his head, vigorously.

"No, no boyfriend." Blaine nodded, giving him a sympathetic smile. He raised his glass of water.

"Here's to the hopeless singles." he said, and Kurt, taken a back, clicked it with Blaine's. David and Jeff rolled their eyes as one.

"Blaine, how many times do we have to say this, _just ask Sebastian out_! Yeesh!" Blaine rolled his eyes at Kurt in a long suffering manner, draining his glass of water.

"Piece of advice, if you like anyone, no matter how much of a fantasy it is, _never_ let these guys get wind of it. You'll never hear the end of it!" Kurt nodded, and cast a glance at Jeff and David, both of them were smirking.

_Too late_.

"Right…I'll bear that in mind." they fell into an almost awkward silence.

_Don't let them make you feel invisible. If you feel like they're pushing away, then push back in._

The idea came out of nowhere, and Kurt swallowed. He was confident person, he was diva. He could make conversation with _three boys_.

"So, why were you talking about Enjolras, and Marius? You guys thinking of putting on Les Mis, because you don't have any girls, in case you hadn't noticed." David bit into an apple, and glanced at Jeff and Blaine. Jeff smirked.

"I don't think "_thinking_" is the right word to use there, Kurt. We _are_ putting on Les Mis." Kurt's mouth dropped open.

"Oh, but Fantine, Cosette, Eponine…"

"Ah," said Blaine, with a smile. "and in that lies the beauty of having a sister school." Kurt blinked.

"Sister school?" the three boys nodded.

"Yep, the lovely ladies of Crawford Country Day, but let's not talk about them for _too_ long or David and Jeff will start _drooling_." both of them attacked Blaine with napkins, some a tad damp, and Kurt could feel a smirk working it's way onto his face.

"Besides, we're only allowed to drool over two girls." added Jeff. "We are in serious monogamous relationships here." Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever, anyway, both David and Jeff are dating the two girls who play Cosette and Eponine, whilst Wes' girlfriend is Fantine." Kurt nodded.

"So, who's playing Jean Valjean?" there were three raised eyebrows.

"Three guesses." said Jeff, leaning back in his chair. Kurt looked at them, recalling that Blaine wasn't playing him because they had said that Luc would give him the part of Enjolras if Nick played Marius. He frowned, thinking, and then it hit him.

"Sebastian?" there were nods. Kurt raised his eyebrows. This guy was like a male Rachel Berry, or something, getting the lead in _everything_. "Doesn't that annoy you?" he asked, before he could stop himself. There were confused looks from the three Warblers.

"Why would that annoy us?" asked Blaine, curiously.

"Because he's _always_ the lead." there was a pause before the three shook their heads.

"No, why would be annoyed that our best singer always gets the lead?"

"Besides, he shares it with Blaine in the Warblers."

"And he did _everything_ right as far as becoming lead in the musical is concerned." Kurt tipped his head to the side, eyebrow raised.

"What do you mean he did "_everything right_"?" there were sighs before Blaine set down his fork, and sat forward.

"At our school, from what we've heard _especially_ since Luc arrived, you get credited if you participate in previous productions. If you make a serious contribution it benefits you next time round. When Sebastian was a Freshman he got the part of Puck in _A Midsummer Night's Dream_." Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yeah, they wanted someone "small" to play the part of Puck, and by small they meant Freshman…it's a bit odd, but anyway, so when they did _West Side Story_ the next year - when we were Freshmen - he got the part of Officer Kurpke, not as big but the _really_ important roles are always landed by Seniors." David and Jeff started laughing at that, and Kurt turned to them, confused. Jeff sighed

"Back then Sebastian was still "finding his feet", and we didn't have Blaine, but our lead soloist didn't want to be in the musical so they gave the part to Cailean, who led the Council." the two of them cracked up.

"And Cailean, he's a _brilliant_ singer and all, but he's _so Scottish_, and he just…" the two boys just cracked up again. Blaine shook his head, smirking.

"I've seen the tapes and it _is_ pretty funny. You can see everyone just _trying_ not to laugh at him." he shook his head. "Anyway, the year after we did _Macbeth_-"

"I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here." said Kurt, smirking. The other boys simply returned it, and Blaine continued talking.

"-and he landed the part of Malcolm…and now he's a Senior so it's kind of only fair that he gets to play Jean Valjean."

"So who are all of you?"

"Meet the revolutionaries of France." said Jeff, raising his cup in a mock toast. "and our fearless leaders have just have a duke out." Kurt blinked.

"Okay, so Nick is Enjorlas, Flint is Marius, and Thad is…wait! Thad's in the play?"

"Yeah, what of it?" there was an unexpected defensive note in their voices. Kurt raised his eyebrows and hands.

"Sorry, it's just…with the stutter and all I didn't think that a play would be his thing."

"Oh you'd be surprised." said David with a small smirk. "He gets around in the plays, not saying too much but he's always there."

"And he doesn't stutter when he sings." added Jeff with a small smile. "Remember when he sang for the council? I think a lot of people thought they were dreaming, and then the _second time_..." he chuckled to himself in a reminiscent manner.

_Wow, this is the most relaxed I've ever felt at Dalton. The boys have let me in, and they're explaining things to me. It's the first time that they've really let me in. It's nice, and I can't __**believe**__ they're doing Les Mis! It's so bad that I couldn't have found out about this place earlier. I would have been __**amazing**__ in this! They sounded kind of stressed, though, and I don't blame them; Blaine set they had their first performance on __**Saturday**__, the __**day after**__ Sectionals, that's a lot of work. The best thing, though, was when the bell went, and Blaine __**grabbed my hand**__! He said that it was probably better that he guided me to my next lesson. He ran me down the hallways, and, to be honest, I'm amazed that I'm still breathing…I thought I might have a heart attack on the way. He didn't stay long, he just dashed off again, and I've suddenly realised he's not in __**any**__ of my lessons. He did, however, leave me with Nick and Flint who are still glaring at each other…_

Kurt found himself sitting _between_ Nick and Flint in his next lesson. It was obvious that Nick had moved desks so that he didn't have to sit next to Flint, and Kurt personally thought that it was ridiculous. He glanced between the two of them, and realised that he should probably break the silence.

"Nick, what's the problem?" he said, eventually, turning to glare at the Junior on his right. Nick huffed and crossed his arms across his chest.

"Stay out of this, Kurt, you're not involved."

"Oh, stop milking it! We both know you're doing this for the attention!" Kurt snapped his fingers loudly, causing a lot of people to jump.

"Stop it!" he exclaimed, sliding his chair back so he could glare at them both. "You're behaving like _five_ year olds!"

"Yeah, well, _welcome to Dalton_." Kurt glared at Nick.

"I don't get the big deal! You got a _bigger_ _part_ in the musical! What's wrong with that?" Nick shot Kurt an icy glare.

"Some people aren't _that_ shallow, Kurt, I don't _want_ a _huge_ part! I just wanted all the work I've done to be appreciated!"

"Oh, like you know how _that_ feels!" spat Flint.

"You know, Flint, you're not the _first_ person to have disapproving parents!"

"Oh _really_, I _totally hadn't noticed_!"

"Hey!" Kurt snapped his fingers in the air again, but they didn't notice.

"Psst! Newbie!" Kurt blinked and looked around.

"Oi! Hummel!"

"Kur-urt!" Kurt twisted round and looked at three people sitting directly behind him.

They looked strangely similar to one another, but at the same time they were _completely_ different. They all had small, lean, pale, oval faces with eyes that sparkled; one set green, the other brown and the last blue. Their hair - one brown, one black and the last blonde - was cut as close to their skull as it could be without it being stubble. They also all seemed to have slightly pointed ears. There was an eerie likeness towards their facial expression too; their eyebrows creased - though the right slightly more than the left, their small lips pursed, and their eyes blinking in _sync_. Kurt looked between them, feeling slightly freaked out by their similarities, but he also couldn't help but think that they looked like _pixies_.

"Um…_hey_!" they nodded as one.

"You should leave them." said the one with green eyes and brown hair.

"Yeah." said the brown eyed, black haired one. "They'll blow themselves out eventually."

"It happens every now and then." said the last one. Kurt looked between them.

"Okay…" he said. "Who are you guys exactly?"

"Daniel Turner; Franklin."

"Michael Frost; Harriot."

"Gabriel Damon; Putnam." Kurt nodded again.

"Right…nice to meet you." he felt awkward looking at the three of them. "I take it that you know…"

"The similarities; yes."

"Everyone says it."

"You'll get use to it."

"And do you always speak in the same order?"

"Yes, yes, we do."

"It's convenient, see."

"You'll get use to that, too." Kurt nodded, once more.

"How did you know my name?" he asked, eventually.

"We're in your maths class."

"You couldn't see us, though."

"We sit right at the back."

Kurt was saved having any further conversation with the three boys because their teacher came strolling into the room. Kurt glanced at the clock and saw that he was five minutes late, though he didn't seem to care. He placed his briefcase on the table, and surveyed the class. He saw Flint, Kurt, and Nick. He rolled his eyes.

"Boys, if you're going to have a stupid row, please don't drag the new kid into the middle of it. Kurt, please excuse the dunderheads you have befriended, they have surprisingly small brains for people at an academically selective school." Kurt managed a small smirk, and watched as the teacher sat on the front side of his desk, folding his arms.

"Right, lets get straight into a discussion, and Trinity, touch Kurt's hair and I get the feeling he'll set you alight, I've only seen that amount of product on Blaine and Sebastian, and we all know how they feel about their hair." Kurt jumped, and spun around to see the three boys smirking, evilly, at one another, retracting their hands from Kurt's head, little bits of paper in their hands. Trinity, that made sense, but Kurt thought pixies was still a more appropriate name.

_Well, this looks like a lesson I can bare with ease. I can't believe I didn't notice the Pixie Trinity in Maths, I was really zoned into my work. They seemed to be intent on sneaking things into my hair. Nick and Flint seem to have put their squabble behind them, for now, as they help me guard myself from attack because Mr Sutherland was right; touch my hair and I'd set them alight. The lessons' relaxed and it doesn't seem to matter so much that I've missed stuff, so I guess that's one lesson less I have to worry about. _

* * *

The moment they left Mr Sutherland's Social Studies classroom, and Trinity were a long way away, a fierce row erupted between Nick and Flint again. Going by the scandalised looks on most of the passers-by's faces, fighting in the corridors was as bad as swearing in the cafeteria, so Kurt grabbed both boys by the scruff's of their blazers, and hauled them into the nearest, empty, classroom.

"I'm _sorry_! Okay? I didn't do it _on purpose_!"

"Do you have _any idea_ what it was like? Okay so we weren't _meant _to have Valjean, but there were _no_ revolutionaries, _no_ Bishop, _no Javert_- _no Seniors full stop_! Thad and I had to play the part of _all_ the students!"

I just _forgot_! That's all! I just forgot!"

"Yes, and I'm sure you'll "_just forget_" on Saturday, too!"

"I'd _never_ do that! I just…I was just _stressed_, alright! I was just…I needed a good song for my audition for the concert! You _know_ how much that matters to me!"

"That's not for _a week_!"

"Well, I have to beat some of the _best_ _performers_ at Dalton! It's not easy!"

"Maybe you should be _less selfish_!"

"_Guys_!" the door swung open and the others - Blaine, Jeff, Thad and David - stood there. "Guys, you need to _quieten down_ before Mrs Daniels walks by, _and_ you're going to be late for Warblers." Nick looked at Blaine and nodded.

"Right, yeah."

"But, before we go, we're going to sort this out." Blaine blocked Nick's path, firmly, and Kurt looked up at Blaine in respect. Blaine reached out, and tugged Thad so that the other boy that Nick didn't want to kill stood beside him. Thad looked uncomfortable, but he didn't move. "Now, Nick, this time of year is _always_ stressful, and I know this is a _big time_ for you, 'cause, you know, you've got _big_ part, but you can't just explode like that." Nick folded his arms across his chest.

"Apparently _I'm_ Marius, now, I can't do that." Blaine rolled his eyes.

"You're _not_ Marius." Nick's eyes went comically wide. "I spoke to Luc, it was meant to be a threat that you pass on to Flint." Nick's mouth dropped open. "I don't think he expected you to take it seriously…" Nick's shoulder's sagged.

"Oh…I just, I was _so stressed_ about the whole thing." he ran a hand over his face. Flint clapped him on the shoulder.

"It's okay mate, it's just…that's the _only_ reason we missed it. I just- I _need_ that performance, you know I do, and I was getting Jeff's help." David glanced at Blaine, and Blaine shrugged sheepishly.

"Come on, we need to go to Warblers." they left the room, and Kurt followed them because he wanted to Luc.

"Did you seriously have no Javert? I mean, did Liam really not come?" Nick nodded, and Kurt noticed that Blaine and David exchanged guilty looks. "Wow, that's unexpected."

"I know, I think Luc's head was going to explode when he noticed that Liam was missing." the boys laughed, and Kurt was beginning to feel shut out again.

"There's one thing I don't get." said Blaine as he checked the time on his watch. "Why aren't you mad at me?" Nick sighed.

"Sebastian got the two of you permission to miss the rehearsal, he said he didn't want to kill your voices, and Luc agreed with him. I mean, you've got Sectionals, the show, and then the auditions, that's a lot of singing." Blaine nodded.

"Yeah, oh god, why didn't I think of that?"

"'Cause you're too busy ogling his hair." Blaine shook his head as the other boys laughed.

"You know I ask myself, everyday, _why_ I made friends with you?" the boys kept laughing, and Kurt followed because he didn't have anything else to do.

"Hey, Kurt." Kurt looked up and saw that all the Warblers were staring at him.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing?" Kurt sent them a confused 'what-the-hell-do-you-_think_-I'm-doing' look. Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Why are you coming with us?"

"I need to talk to Luc." there were raised eyebrows, and David sighed.

"Look, I know you want to be in Warblers, but there just _isn't time_, and Luc not even can change that. The decision to take on is a new Warbler is a big one, and we _vote_ on it, no one will vote to audition you _now_. It's in _your_ best interest to wait until _after_ your audition, when we've heard you sing, and then you can be vetted by the council - me, Wes and Thad - we can vote, and _then_ you can perform for the Warblers." Kurt felt his heart sink, for a little bit, before he shook his head.

"I _actually_ wanted to talk about my audition." their expressions brightened a little, except for Blaine's.

"Right, well, you might want to come back in about an hour…we'll be having a break before play rehearsals, you can catch him then." Kurt nodded.

"Right, thanks." Kurt turned to walk away, his head hanging slightly, and the Warblers cast him one more look before dashing into the hall.

_Well, it looks like Sectionals is really out of the question. If they say no one will vote for me, they're probably right…on the upside they seemed pretty confident that I'd be getting in. Though, I guess they can't really say that I'm not. I guess there's nothing else I can do but go back to Franklin and start the ridiculous amount of work this school has set me…_

* * *

Kurt groaned and rested his head against the table. His lack of sleep, feeling of being unclean, and the dullness of the work made him unable to concentrate. He put down his new copy of _The Crucible_ with a sigh, and glanced at Juri, who was fast asleep on his bed with his headphones on. Then he looked down at his watch and cursed. When Juri had come stumbling into the room, he'd demanded that Kurt wake him in an hour, before snatching up his walkman and falling asleep.

"_Juri_!" Kurt ran over to the Russian, pulling the headphones off and shaking him, roughly.

"Va?" he said, blearily, reaching up. "Vat is matter ze matter Kurt?"

"You need to get up, it's been an hour!" Juri leapt to his feet, forgetting that he'd put his books by the bottom of his bed, and slipped and fell. Kurt winced, but Juri just got back up, eyes on his feet, and dodged the junk to his wardrobe. Kurt sat down on his own bed as Juri began to pull clothes out in a panicked manner.

"Did you get vork done?" he asked as he began to strip, to Kurt's mortification, in the middle of the room.

"Erm…" said Kurt, turning away with slightly pink cheeks. "no, not really…I couldn't focus."

"You should finish _ze Crucible_, first." Kurt nodded, gaze fixed intently on the wall. Despite the fact that Kurt found it embarrassing and awkward, he was…_reassured_ by their lack of shame or boundaries. It was just another piece of evidence that showed Dalton was accepting. It was another sign that Kurt needed to see before he believed.

Kurt turned back around when he thought that it was safe, and saw that Juri was dressed in a black tuxedo with matching black pants, a white shirt and black cummerbund and bowtie. Juri caught Kurt's incredulous expression and gave him a self-conscious smile.

"Full concert dress." he explained. "Ve begin our dress rehearsals today." Kurt nodded. "Ve have one today, tomorrow, and Saturday before ze school." Kurt raised his eyebrows.

"Wow, and Saturday night is opening night?" Juri nodded. "Wait will I be able to talk to Luc if I go with you?" Juri glanced at the time on his watch.

"Yes, rehearsal begins in ten minutes to give Varblers rest and let Crawford arrive…ve must all tune and be ready before he comes in ozervise you are late." he shook his heard. "Never be late." Kurt nodded.

"I'll bare that in mind." the two of them began a mad dash from Franklin all the way to the Hall, which stood away from the other buildings and was built over the sight of the old coach house and stables. Kurt spared the girls that were wondering around, either in black or 19th century dress, a half glance as he bid Juri goodbye, and searched for Luc.

"Mr Lucey!" the music director, who was drinking a cup of coffee and dressed in all black, turned to Kurt with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah Master von Trapp, what can I do for you?" Kurt pause, catching his breath and discarding the fact that he'd just been called "_Master von Trapp_".

"I was wondering when my audition was?" the tall man flicked some of his red hair out a little more.

"Oh yes, Tuesday, let's make it Tuesday…though it doesn't really matter?" Kurt frowned.

"Why?"

"Well, Blaine's going to throw it, isn't he? I mean, the only way you're _not_ going to get it is if you don't sing at all." Kurt stared at him. The ice cold shock of that began to thaw under a red hot anger. His eyes blazed with fury. He turned on his heel and stormed away. Luc stared at him, looking a little surprised, before shrugging and turning away.

"_Blaine Anderson_!" Kurt stormed backstage, causing several girls that were changing to shriek and dive for cover. Kurt didn't care about them, though, he was simply fixated on the black haired boy who was standing with his friends, and had been laughing a second ago.

"Kurt?" he said, turning around in surprise at the tone of his voice. Kurt stormed up to him, stopping just before he crashed into the Junior.

"You were going to _throw it away_?" Blaine opened his mouth, stumbled over what he wanted to say, and closed it again. The others looked at each other, feeling a little awkward.

"Who told you that?"

"So it's true!"

"Well, who said?"

"_Mr Lucey_!" Blaine closed his eyes, running a hand over his eyes. Kurt let out an angry huff.

"Look, Kurt-"

"Why would you- don't- I just- I'm a _good singer_! I could beat you in second!" Blaine looked up at him, eyebrow raised, tempted to throw what Luc had pointed out to him back at Kurt. In the end he just bit his lip.

"Why are you angry?" he asked, eventually. "I'm trying to _help_. You need Dalton, and I don't _need_ the scholarship. I don't _see_ the problem." Kurt continued to fume, feeling too angry to speak properly, and unbidden, Blaine's question floated to the front of his mind.

_Why __**am**__ I angry?_

"Because I don't _want_ your _pity_!"

"It's not _pity_! I'm just giving you what you need! I'm trying to be _nice_!"

"It's bit late to be nice when you're the people that landed me _here_!"

"You _wanted _to come to Dalton!"

"_No_! I _want_ to be with my friends at McKinley, but I'm _not safe_ there!"

"And that's my fault how?"

"Because your _stupid _website told me to "_have courage_" and _I _followed you _dumb advice_!" the entire backstage was staring at Kurt. Kurt could feel the tears spilling down his cheeks. Blaine looked at the others around him. They had their mouths open. Kurt wiped away the angry tears because he _wasn't_ upset…he _wasn't_. He turned around, cheeks reddening as everyone just stared at him, and he began to run away, heart pounding and head spinning with humiliation.

"_Kurt_!" he spun around, unwillingly, and saw that Blaine was being pushed towards him. "I wasn't going to throw it. I didn't tell Luc everything…I changed my mind…I…I mean, I don't need the scholarship, but I was going to sing for…the Warblers." Kurt stared at him with wide eyes.

"You…" he swallowed, shame colouring his pale face, and the tears began to roll again. Stress and tiredness reducing him to a complete mess, his whole body shaking, and everyone just _gawped_ at him, no idea what to do. He turned and ran away, straight past the assembling orchestra who all looked confused, and out into the grounds, one hand over his mouth as he sobbed.

_I have never been so humiliated, or confused in my life. Everything was simple until I came here! Painful, __**unbearable**__, but simple! I __**understood**__! I even got Karoffsky; he hated being gay, hated himself so he pushed me around as a release, and so that __**no one**__ would ever question his sexuality! Now... now, I've just humiliated myself in front __**half of Dalton**__, and __**Blaine**__! I just- I'm so __**tired**__ of being treated like I'm second rate, something breaking! I can't- I just- I don't even understand what just happened! I can't! I want to go home. I just want to go back to Lima, and my friends, and forget about bullying, and singing, and scholarships. I just want to forget any of this ever happened…_

* * *

**Next Time- Opposite: Sectionals has dawned, and Sebastian and Blaine prepare for their first public duet. Meanwhile Kurt finally beings to open up to some unexpected people, and Blaine begins to wonder just why he agreed to organise the Carol Service as most of the girls at Crawford don't seem to understand the meaning of the word "gay"…**


	6. Opposite

**The Scholarship**

**Episode 6: Opposite**

_Thursday was a hellish day for me. After I screamed at Blaine the whole school was looking at me oddly. Quite a few people have been giving me a wide berth, and Professor Lloyd has referred me to the student councillor. I haven't spoken to any of the Junior Warblers, but they're clearly siding with Blaine. Juri's been so busy practising music that I haven't had a chance to speak to him at all. I went around on my own, and I would have missed lunch if Trinity hadn't have waylaid me, stolen my bag and carried me into the cafeteria. I ended up eating with them, and they're odd, but they were kind to me. They didn't make me talk when I really didn't feel like it. Instead they discussed their plans to prank Mrs Daniels in the Saturday matinee which, apparently, is compulsory for all students. I also did quite a lot of song practise, but I didn't enjoy myself that much. Now, it's Friday and the Warblers have all left for Sectionals, and I wish I was going with them. I don't know who I want to win…on the one hand the New Directions are my friends, but if the Warblers loose than I won't compete at all this year…I have my first session with my councillor today, that should be fun, and I haven't finished reading 'The Crucible' so English should be hellish, and Mrs Daniels has been giving me disapproving looks, again, what fun…_

Kurt ran a hand over his face, and couldn't even bring himself to be mildly annoyed by the bits of paper that were being thrown at him by Trinity. Their Social Studies class was seated in a semi-circle, and Trinity were in the row behind him. Kurt had the elbow of his right arm resting on the knees of his crossed right leg, and his chin rested in his palm. They'd been discussing psychology for the past half an hour, and Kurt was bored out of his mind, and his eyelids were drooping.

"_Trinity_!" Kurt jumped, and saw that Mr Sutherland was glaring at the three pixie-esque boys that sat behind him. They shrank back, away from Kurt's hair.

"Sorry, sir."

"Deepest apologies."

"Sincerest condolences." Mr Sutherland rolled his eyes, and most of the class chuckled, lightly.

"Alright there, Kurt?" Kurt nodded, sitting up a little bit straighter. "You can move, you know, if they're annoying you too much." Kurt shook his head.

"It's fine, sir, I'd kind of stopped noticing what they were doing." there were more snorts from the class, and he felt himself sit up a little bit straighter. Mr Sutherland rolled his eyes.

"Now, does anyone have a situation they want to try and talk about…talk about the psychology in it?" Kurt sat up straighter, again, and then put his hand up. "Yes, Kurt, are you going to explain the argument yesterday?" Kurt shook his head.

"No, well, kind of…" the class sat, looking at him interestedly.

"Why don't you just talk?" Kurt sighed, looking into his hands.

"I came to Dalton because I was being bullied at my old school…most of the time people ignored me, they might throw a slushee, or something, but there was this one guy…this _Neanderthal_ who just…he just made my life a living hell…and nobody really cared, and those that did…they couldn't do _anything_." he shook his head, still staring at his hands. "I went looking for somewhere, _anywhere_, that wasn't McKinley…and I found Dalton, and there was this webpage about bullying, and it was all; have courage, be brave, it's just ignorance…so I went, and I confronted him. I found out that it all stemmed from self-loathing, that he _hated_ himself, and he took it out on me…he threatened to kill me." the entire class gasped in unison.

"Kurt…are you sure you want to talk about this? I'm sure Trinity can come up with _something_." Kurt shook his head.

"No, it's okay…I told the…well, the Principal at the time and she expelled him, like _that_, and I thought it was over. I thought I was going to be happy, and safe, and my dad got married, and Finn sung to me and…" he sniffed, loudly, and a tissue dropped into his lap, and he gathered it up gratefully. "I was so accepted and _loved_, and then they _overturned_ his expulsion, and I just had to get out…dad said he went up one day, when I was on the computer and he saw that I was looking at Dalton…and he wanted me to go here, and be safe…and you kind of know the rest." Mr Sutherland nodded.

"Is there anything else you want to say?" Kurt blew his nose, and shrugged.

"I guess, since I got here I haven't had much time to catch a break…it's been you can't get in, you can in _but_, you're now a half Dalton boy, here's a ton of work, getting locked out, and just…" he shrugged. "I think I just exploded when I thought that they didn't _value_ me…it was like, 'oh there's poor Kurt let's go be all fake, and chivalrous because we pity him'…I just, I don't know…" he broke off and blew his nose again.

"Well, that was…very…I'm sorry for everything that's happened to you. Do you mind if I opened it to the class?" Kurt shook his head. "What would anyone else do?" there was a pause before a hand went up. "Andy?"

"Well…it's clear that most of your emotions are being bottle up…probably because you don't want to be too emotional at your school.." he shrugged. "Once you get into your house, here, you can be as emotional as you like…or you could sing it out…though I do advise against future explosions." Kurt nodded.

"Also," broke in another boy. "people clearly mistreated you at your old school. They made you feel like crap because of you were, and stuff, so obviously it hurt when you thought that's what _we_ were doing…but it's not. We value you, Kurt, because you're a human being, and whether you've done right or wrong you're entitled to love, and acceptance." Kurt looked up at the boy who was smiling at him. He had calm grey eyes, and soft features. His brown hair was light and wavy, and his delicate lips only increased their smile as Kurt met his eyes.

"Thank you." he smiled more, and his skin, that had been an unblemished white, flushed around his cheeks.

"Anything else?"

"Well your bully is clearly a person we should show compassion to." Kurt turned to at the boy on grey-eyed boys left hand side. He shrugged. "I'm just saying…if he is filled with a _self-loathing_ then he needs compassion and help. He needs someone to help him _accept_ whatever about him he hates." Kurt opened his mouth to argue, but then closed it as the boy made a good point. He stared at the ground.

_These guys are acting like hippies or something…they're practically telling me to love my bully, or whatever. I don't think I can forgive him for what he's done. I mean, I feel __**sorry**__ for him…but I don't know…_

"I think, Vincent, that it's much easier to say that from an outsiders point of view." the boy - Vincent - jumped, and then looked at Kurt. Kurt tried to pull his relaxed expression, but failed spectacularly. The boy nodded.

"I'm sorry, if that came across as…_dismissive_ or inconsiderate…I was just trying to see it from all angles." Kurt shrugged.

"It's alright, I'm just a little bit…"

"Touchy."

"Sensitive."

"Delicate."

"_Boys_." snapped Mr Sutherland, glowering at the Trinity who were poking out from behind Kurt. They shrunk backwards as one. Kurt shook his hand, using his right hand to wave it away.

"It's okay…it's actually _okay_."

_I can't believe it, but I actually feel a little better…now that I've had a chance to talk about how I feel, and they've told me what they think about the situation, I feel more settled. I guess I just needed a bit of reassurance…I guess the bullying's made me a little…well, mistrusting. I guess I've just become a bit jaded after my time at McKinley…it's nice to be around people who are open-minded, though. Maybe when the others come back from Sectionals, I could consider talking to Blaine…_

* * *

"Oh my _god_!" exclaimed Blaine, hands reaching up to tug at his neatly gelled hair.

"Stop that!" cried Sebastian, snatching up to hold onto his wrists. "Stop destroying your hair!" Blaine almost glared at him, but found he didn't want to, especially as Sebastian was rubbing soothing circles onto the backs of his palms. He breathed out.

"I'm sorry." he said, letting out another long breath. "I just- I'm kind of _nervous_." Sebastian arched an eyebrow.

"Really? I had _no idea_!" Blaine flailed his hands in an attempt to hit him.

"Shut up! I just mean that this is the first time I've ever sung a duet with another guy in public- heck it's the first time I've sung a _duet_ in public, and I'm kind of scared that people will…you know…" Sebastian sighed, lowering Blaine's hands and moving his own hands to Blaine's shoulders.

"Look," he said, levelling their eyes. "it _doesn't matter _what anyone in the audience thinks of us. It _doesn't matter_ if they think we're disgusting, or diseased, or _whatever_! What _matters_ is that we know who we are. I _know_ who I am, and I'm proud to be gay, so are you, right?" Blaine nodded.

"Yeah…yeah, I am."

"Then it _doesn't matter _if they hurl abuse, or _tomatoes_, they can't take _that_ away from us…and they can't change the fact that _you are brilliant_!" Blaine flushed red, and Sebastian smiled at him. "It's nice to see some colour back in your face." Blaine continued to blush as Sebastian squeezed his shoulder tightly, and walked away.

"How was the bonding session?" Nick had appeared, seemingly from nowhere, by his left shoulder, and Blaine swatted him away, blushing even harder.

"Nick!"

"What? You shouldn't be ashamed, or embarrassed Blaine, anyone can see the _love_ between you."

"Jeff!" Blaine turned completely red faced from mortification, and several of the Hipsters, who were just standing around by them backstage, turned to look at them curiously.

"Come on, let's tease Blaine in the green room." Blaine glared at David, as the black boy slung his arm around his shoulder, and marched them away followed by Flint and Thad.

"Blaine Anderson?" Blaine, and the rest of the Warblers with him, jumped as a bunch of girls stepped into their path. Blaine, who was previously being used as a walking stick by Nick and Jeff, lost his balance slightly as they stopped putting pressure on his shoulders, and David pushed him upright.

"Yeah…what can I do for you?"

"We need to talk to you-"

"Uh huh."

"-about Kurt." all the Warblers froze at that. None of them had spoken to Kurt since he'd exploded at Blaine backstage. Just after he'd left, Luc had rushed through and herded them all to their opening positions so there hadn't been much time for thought, and on Thursday they'd all been half asleep or trying to make sure that they were note perfect, there hadn't been much chance to think about what the Franklin boy had said to them.

"Look." said Blaine in a placating manner. "We don't really get what happened. Yes, I _was_ intending to throw it completely, but things got complicated and so now I'm going to sing properly, I might not go full-out, but I'll give him something to think about. As for what he said about our website; we're really sorry that that happened, but we had _no idea_ anything like that had happened." there was an awkward silence as the six girls stared at him in shock.

"Okay, _what the hell_?" demanded the girl at the front, who looked ready to kill someone, or at least dismember them. Blaine looked at David and Flint for support.

"I was just explaining our side of what happened on Wednesday, we didn't-"

"Wait. What happened on Wednesday?" all the girls now looked concerned, and Blaine shared another perplexed glance at the boys around him.

"You mean Kurt didn't tell you about that?" asked David, slowly, looking between them and _knowing_ the answer. They all shook their heads.

"Alright, white boy, what did you do to our Kurt?" there was a pause before Blaine rolled his eyes.

"_Nothing_! _That's_ the _whole point_! I don't know what I did, but he got _seriously_ pissed off because I _was_ _going _to throw away my half of the audition, _but_ _I_ _changed my mind_!" there was another awkward silence.

"Are you saying you _upset_ Kurt?" the small brunette also had a very angry expression on her face, and Blaine was beginning to feel a little intimidated by the group of girls before him. Blaine shrugged.

"Well, he was crying, but I didn't _upset_ him. He got upset over what Luc told him."

"Who's Luc?" demanded a Latina girl, sharply. "'Cause I am fully prepared to go all Lima Heights over him."

"Look, I don't know what "_Lima Heights_" is," said Flint in an even tone. "but you're talking about our teacher so you might want to show a little bit of respect." the girls all looked at them, flabbergasted.

"Kurt was right." said the Asian looking girl. "Your school is odd."

"We're not odd." came the indignant reply from Jeff. "We just have rules, and respect for our elders." there was another pause.

"So, um, if you didn't want to talk about Wednesday, what _do_ you want to talk about?" the black girl shook her head.

"Uh uh, you ain't changing the subject until we've got some answers." Blaine rolled his eyes.

"What more do you want to know?"

"You said he was crying, is he eating, sleeping? Kurt doesn't just cry over nothing, you know." Blaine looked at the others, before shrugging again.

"I don't know whether he's been sleeping, you'd have to ask his roommate Juri - and, no, he's not here - and as far as eating goes…I saw him with Trinity in the lunch hall yesterday, but I wasn't there for breakfast, or dinner…" he glanced at the others.

"None of us went to breakfast." said Flint shrugging.

"I did." piped up Thad. Everyone turned to look at the councillor.

"You did?" asked Blaine, brow furrowing. Thad nodded.

"You were t-t-t-talking to Ssssebastian." somehow, despite the stutter, he managed to give Blaine a 'that-explains-everything' tone of voice. "Kurt ate…with…with…C-Chriss." he fell silent, but the female members of New Directions continued to glare at him. He opened his mouth, stumbled, made another false start, and then looked up at Nick.

"So, basically," said Nick in an effort to alleviate the awkward air that hovered over them. "he ate breakfast and lunch, but we can't tell you about dinner because we were all at play rehearsal." he shrugged. "We just haven't had time to talk to him." they all glared at the group.

"There's no "_basically_" about this, Kurt had his life threatened!" there was an awful pause. "You don't know how he feels, but you need to _treat him right_!" all of the boys winced as Blaine's eye flashed dangerously. He strode right up to the black girl in the centre, forcing her to back up.

"No,_ you_, don't know how that feels, and Kurt was lucky to _only_ have his life threatened. _I_ got two broken ankles, a fractured shin, broken tibia, and _fifteen_ stitches in my head. I didn't walk for _over a month_, and I was _lucky,_ too, because my friend slipped into a coma, he suffered brain damage. He doesn't remember me, and the emotional trauma has regressed him to the age of _five_! And, if that wasn't enough, they smashed the windows of the house, traumatised Anna and Meg, and dad got so angry he _almost hit me_! So _don't lecture me_!" he pushed his way through the girls. The stunned group turned back to the surprised looking Warblers.

"Wow…" said David, eventually. "You _really_ know how to push people's buttons don't you?"

"I'm not sure I've ever seen him explode like that." they glanced at each other before Nick, Thad, Jeff and Flint dashed away, leaving David there with his hands in his pockets and polite smile on his face.

"We're sorry," said the short brunette. "we didn't know…" David shrugged.

"We get that you're looking out for Kurt, but please remember that lot's of people come to Dalton for sanctuary, you must be _delicate_ and _sensitive_ as everyone has a different background." there were meek nods. "If it's any consolation you have now ensured that they speak to each other." there was more nodding, and David sighed. "Look, what did you want to talk about?"

"Why he isn't in Warblers, he's an _amazing_ singer." David sighed.

"Look, as we explained to Kurt, he's need to be vetted by the council, and then we need to have a vote, and then he has to sing, _again_, it's all too time consuming. By the time that had been done we'd have eaten up a rehearsal and he'd only have one to learn the song in. That's too much to ask of someone, especially as he has a lot of catch up work." there were nods. "It's more timing than anything else because we've got this, then four performances of Les Mis in three days, and then we've got a week and then it's the run up to the Autumn Concert, and _then_ it's the Carol Service not long after that. It's a hellish time of year." there were some final nods.

"Well, we can help relieve of one pressure-" David looked up in surprise. "-say goodbye to the show choir competition." David snorted with laughter, and smirked.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure; you've never heard Sebastian and Blaine sing together…"

* * *

_Well, this days been quite surprising. The teachers are obviously thinking about Sectionals - with the exception of Mrs Daniels - and the classes seem quite a bit smaller without the Warblers, and there's less noise. It seemed that none of the teachers had the heart to pick on me today, again with the exception of Mrs Daniels, and I've made it to lunch quite comfortable. I spoke to Juri in English and he said that he was sorry that I was upset, and he offered to help me with the work if he had a spare moment. I turned him down, though, because he looks like he needs more sleep than me. Anyway, it's lunch now and there's a lack of people that I know in the cafeteria. Juri said he had practise to do, I saw Chris helping Fred to the medical wing this morning so I presume they're not around, and I don't really want to know where Trinity are. The only question is, where do I sit…_

"Hey, Kurt!" Kurt looked around and saw the boy with soft grey eyes, and wavy brown hair from his social studies class waving at him. "Come over and sit." thankful that he didn't have to stand around with his tray, looking gormless and friendless, he walked over to the table.

"Thank you." he said, smiling gratefully at them.

"It's no problem. Keats." the boy extended his hand across the table, and Kurt took it, raising an eyebrow.

"Really?" he laughed, quietly, and Keats gave him a warm smile.

"My name's Keaton, but Keats sounds cooler."

"It's a good thing that he's amazing at English." added one of the other boys. Kurt raised his eyebrows.

"This is Stuart." he indicated to the boy who had just spoken, and thin wire glasses that framed his rather large chocolate eyes. "And Parker." he gestured to the other boy. Kurt nodded at him, and then noticed the little plastic hook over his ear.

"Are you deaf?" he asked Parker. Parker jumped, almost as if he hadn't expected Kurt to speak directly to him. He smiled, thinly.

"Yeah, in my right the whole life, and I lost it in my left over twelve years."

"I'm sorry." Parker shrugged.

"I can read lips, and I took a lot speech therapy lessons, plus I enjoyed my twelve years with the left one." Kurt nodded, pleased to see that he hadn't offended him.

"You know Andy, and Vince, and Parker's in your house, I think."

"Franklin?"

"Yep." there was a peaceful quiet as they ate, and Kurt began to guess that these were quite a different kind of people to the other's that he'd met at Dalton so far.

"So, Kurt, what are you going to sing for your audition?" Kurt blinked, momentarily shocked, before he smiled.

"I'm thinking either _Defying Gravity_ or _Don't Cry for Me, Argentina_." there was a pause in which they all looked at him with blank faces.

"Well…that sounds…_interesting_."

"You've never heard them, have you?" the five boys shook their heads. "_Defying Gravity_ is from _Wicked_ and _Don't Cry for Me, Argentina_ is from _Evita_." there was a long pause until Keats tipped his head to the side.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't _Defying Gravity_ a duet?" Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Are you thinking of _As Long as You're Mine_?" Keats shrugged.

"Maybe, I know only this one song that…" he seemed to swallow before continuing. "Sebastian used to play. It was about…love, I think." Kurt nodded.

"I think you're thinking of _As Long as You're Mine_…_Defying Gravity_ is the finale of the first act. It's when Elphaba is denounced and she vows to fight the Wizard, and it's dramatic and she gets lifted from the stage- but that's not happening, so anyway…" the five boys gaped at him, as if trying to work out what out of what he'd just said they should be paying attention to.

"So, it's meant to be sung by a girl?" asked Andy eventually.

"Well, yes, but that's never stopped me." there were more nods from the boys.

"So, Kurt, are you okay?" Kurt looked up at Keats. He frowned, and then gave him a small smile.

"Yeah, you know, weird as it sounds, shouting at Blaine, and then talking to you guys in class…I think it's helped a little bit." they all nodded.

"Yep, but, you know, _Blaine_, do you want to talk about your argument?" Kurt sighed, putting down his fork.

"I just…Luc told me he was going to throw away the audition for me so that I'd _definitely_ get in, and I just- I mean, I _should_ be grateful for him doing that, but I don't know…it's like I can _never_ be good enough, or something. That's just- I know it's kind of stupid, but it's just how I feel, like I'm always wrong, always second best." there was a moment in which the others looked down at their plates, and Keats slid a hand across the table to rest it top of Kurt's. Kurt jumped, a little, from the physical contact, but relaxed when Keats smiled at him.

"It's okay, Kurt, you're safe at Dalton, and, whilst Blaine is a _complete_ idiot when it comes to emotions, it was never his intention to hurt you. He was just doing what's right for him, he always does that." Kurt narrowed his eyes, slightly, at the tone of Keats' voice, but shrugged it off, he was being nice to him after all.

_I have to stop being so judgemental about people. I hear one thing I just jump to conclusions. Though there's something about the way he said that…I don't know, that and the way he said Blaine's name earlier, and when he mentioned Sebastian…_

Kurt gave him a small smile.

"Do you think I could make it up with him…"

…_because I'm hopelessly into him, and arguing with him like this, and blaming him for what happened to me really hurts. It __**really**__ hurts. _

"Of course. Blaine isn't really one to hold grudges." there was a stillness around the table, and Kurt's eyes flitted between the five boys, noting the sudden change in the air. Kurt removed his hands from under Keats', frowning.

"Is there something wrong?" they all shook their heads as one.

"Nothing." said Stuart with a winning smile, pushing his glasses a little bit further up his nose. Kurt shifted, feeling awkward.

"Well, um…" he struggled to find something to say, before something Parker said caused his eyes to light up. "Hey, Keats - that sounds weird, never mind - you said you were good at English." Keats blinked, clearly a little taken aback.

"Well, that's one everyone says." Keats began to smile, and the other boys just shook their heads.

"Oh stop the false modesty, it's making me blush." Keats raised an eyebrow, but did not respond to Vince.

"Good you, possibly, give me a hand with _The Crucible_?" Keats smiled.

"Yes, yes I can."

_Lunch was actually __**really**__ enjoyable. Parker's in my English class, and between him and Keats I feel like I __**finally**__ understand this play. After that, Keats - because he's in my history class - helped me start my catch up work for Mrs Daniels. It was a little awkward at times, these guys aren't the biggest ones for small talk, but they did their best for me, and I really appreciated that. The only thing that put a downer on my mood was the text Mercedes sent me, all about what Blaine had said, now I feel kind of guilty…_

* * *

"What is Blaine doing?" Sebastian had sidled up to the other Junior Warblers, who were all watching their lead stand in a corner and shout at someone on the other end of the phone.

"He's trying to arrange the Carol service."

"_Now_?"

"Yes, now." Sebastian glared at Nick.

"What the hell happened?"

"We ran into the New Directions ladies, and had a little row about Kurt." Sebastian seemed to stiffen at the mention of the new student. Then he breathed out, heavily.

"I see."

"You okay, Sebastian, you look stressed?" Sebastian looked down at the Warbler Councillor in mild surprise.

"I'm fine, David, just thinking about all the performances we've got coming…I think we're both a little bit worried about how the crowd will react."

"You guys'll be fine." assured Flint, with a small smile "You just need to tone down the flirting." the others nodded, and Sebastian turned his gaze back to Blaine.

"Who is he talking to?"

"Michelle." Sebastian winced.

"Why isn't he talking to Jenny, Elise or Cat?"

"They're in lessons, Michelle has flu which means she has time." Sebastian winced again, and the other boys couldn't help but agree with his feelings towards the situation.

"_Michelle_!" came the angry yell, and all the boys in the green room tried hard not to burst out laughing. "_I am gay_! I'm trying to organise the _Carole Service_, I _do not_ want to _go out with you_!" Nick stuck his hand into his mouth, Jeff turned away, David put a hand over his eyes, Flint shoulders were shaking like crazy, and Thad was smiling widely.

"Okay, people." said Luc, strolling into the room. "I hope you've all warmed up, and Blaine stop yelling." he prised the phone from Blaine's hands and ended the call. Blaine didn't look at all put out by that. "Right, we're on second; after the Hipsters, but before the New Directions."

"Is that a good place to be?" asked Wes, walking over to stand by David's shoulder. Luc shrugged.

"It's as good a place as any. Now, there's not much I have to say; you two tone down the flirting, but it's not a love song so I'd actually be a little bit worried about the two of you if you were flirting." Both Sebastian and Blaine flushed slightly, and Luc rolled his eyes. "Sebastian whatever happens _do not_ damage your voice, we need our Jean Valjean." Sebastian nodded. "Right let's all just make sure not to trip over anything so that we're spared of disasters like last year." the older threes years winced. "Wes any last words?" the Council leader shook his head. "Then let's get sat down."

The Warblers made their way, with only a slight amount of nerves in their stomach, to their seats in the audience. Blaine could feel the knots that were twisting themselves in his stomach. This was his first public performance since Middle School when he'd sung at his school's charity fundraising event, and the crowd had been nowhere _near_ this big. He could feel his heart pound, a slight feeling of nausea erupted around the base of his throat, and he could feel the sweat, that was being secreted from his pores, begin to trickle down his forehead.

"Hey." a voice appeared by his ear, and a hot breath tickled side of his face. "You're going to be amazing." Blaine twisted round to see Sebastian give him a wink. Blaine swallowed and nodded, turning back to watch the Hipsters perform _The Living Years_. They were good, certainly better than Blaine had been expecting, but Blaine was also confident that they wouldn't be a serious threat to them winning. There was a sort of sweetness about the way their sang that was heart-warming, and could lead to votes for them. Wasn't that how Luc had said the New Directions got votes; by being heart-warming and inspiring.

"Okay," Sebastian clapped his hands down onto his shoulders. "you're going to be amazing." he winked at Blaine, moving towards his starting position. Blaine swallowed, knowing that he was slightly flushed, and moved to his own place. David was on one side, and Nick on the other. Both of them elbowed him, and he flushed again, annoyed by their teasing.

"Good luck." Blaine looked round to see Thad standing behind him, a small smile on his face. Blaine returned the gesture, vaguely noting that Thad wasn't stuttering, for once.

The lights went on, and the Warblers immediately burst into song, moving immediately to their own sound;

_Don't stop movin to the funky funky beat_

_Don't stop movin to the S Club beat_

_DJ's got the party started_

_There's no end in sight_

Sebastian stepped down, his winning smile spreading across his face, and an lively, infectious, energy radiated from him. It made Blaine grin just looking at him. It gave him more confidence too.

_Everybody's movin to the_

_Rhythm that's inside_

It was funny to see the reactions of the New Directions as they began to recognise the song they were singing. Some of them looked shocked, others looked worried, and some of them were just laughing, clearly uplifted by Sebastian's smile, and the general cheerful demeanour of the Warblers.

_Its a crazy world_

_But tonight's the right situation_

_Don't get left behind_

_Just go_

_With the magic baby_

Blaine leapt down so that he was level with Sebastian, happy smile on his face, all worries about performing a duet completely gone.

_I can see it there in your eyes _

_Let it flow_

_Stop the waiting_

_R__ight here on the dance floor_

_Is where you gotta let it go_

And Blaine couldn't dance like Sebastian, so he focused on just singing, and jumping, vaguely in time, from side to side, and wiggling his head.

_Don't stop movin_

_'Can you feel the music_

Blaine and Sebastian were singing together, in the middle of the stage, and dancing in almost sync. He could see Sebastian's smirk out of the corner his eye, and his eyes kept flitting to his feet to check his steps.

_DJ's got us going around, 'round_

_Don't stop movin'_

_Find your own way to it_

_Listen to the music_

_Taking you to places that you've never been before_

_Baby now_

The main problem, Blaine was finding, about looking at Sebastian was that his hips were incredibly distracting. They were twisting and moving in time to the beat, and it was far more interesting than the crowd.

_Don't stop movin to the funky funky beat_

_Don't stop movin to the S Club beat_

_Forget about your fears tonight_

Blaine moved to the front of the stage, singing as loud as he could, one foot in front of the other with a skip in his step.

_Listen to your heart_

_Let's just touch the sky_

He smiled, and he saw that just about all of the audience were on their feet, and the entirety of the New Directions were on their feet clapping.

_No need to reason why_

Sebastian came to join him, and Blaine grinned right at him. He knew that the looks they were exchanging, and the fact that Sebastian was edging towards him, would definitely be classified as flirting.

_Just listen to the sound_

_Let it make you come alive_

_Don't stop movin_

_'Can you feel the music_

_DJ's got us going around, 'round _

The crowd were dancing along, as the Warblers all burst into life. They were back-flipping and jumping up into the air with as much energy and enthusiasm as they contained.

_Don't stop movin'_

_Find your own way to it_

_Listen to the music_

_Taking you to places that you've never been before_

_Baby now_

Luc was on his feet. He was nodding and clapping along, a twinkle in his eye telling the Warblers that they were doing right. Sebastian grinned at Blaine when they noticed that, it was some of the largest praise they'd ever received as a group.

_Don't stop movin to the funky funky beat_

_Don't stop movin to the S Club beat_

Sebastian and Blaine hopped onto the lowest step, in the middle of the Warblers, hands behind their backs, and they all dropped their heads as the music stopped.

The crowd began to cheer, whistle and clap. The Warblers all looked up, wide smiles spreading across their faces, and they took a bow as one. Sebastian turned to Blaine, and they beamed at each other, before Sebastian hugged him, tightly, and Blaine let out a relieved laugh.

"You were _amazing_!" exclaimed Sebastian, when he released him. Blaine laughed, red faced from exertion and emotions.

"You were brilliant, too." they didn't get to say anything more as the other Warblers descended upon their leads, hugging them and patting them on the back as they moved off stage in high spirits.

There wasn't a chance for Luc to talk to them because they hurried to their seats, briefly passing the New Directions and exchanging smiles. Blaine was wowed into silence by their performances. Luc might have been right about them being peppy and inspirational last year, but they weren't like that now. Blaine guessed that they weren't underdogs anymore, and they performed with confidence.

_I've Had the Time of My Life_ was beautiful - even if he was disappointed that there was no lift - and he liked the dancing, but it was _Valerie_ that really impressed him. The Latina girl had one _heck_ of a voice, and the dancing between the Asian boy and one of the blondes was nothing short of _spectacular_. Blaine, and the rest of the Warblers, gave them standing ovations, and clapped along to _Valerie_ with smiles that hid the worry they felt about the competition.

* * *

"…and it's; _a draw_!" there was a moment of silence. Blaine glanced at David and Thad who were standing either side of him. Then he looked round and Sebastian and Wes who were looking at each other with surprised expressions. All of the New Directions looked similarly shocked and surprised. The audience had stopped clapping when they saw that neither team was celebrating. Mr Schuster met Luc's eyes, and they shared a moment of exasperation.

"Boys," said Luc in a very loud voice. "let's not be stupid. You _drew_ that means you came _first_. That means-"

"We're going to _Regionals_!" screamed Tyler, Edward and Marcus - the three Freshmen of the Warblers. Luc raised his eyes to the ceiling.

"_Hallelujah_!" he exclaimed. "Thank the Lord for the Freshmen." that was the moment that the message sank.

"We _won_!" came the cheer. Blaine caught David, Flint, Thad and Nick in a hug, Jeff leaping at him. Wes broke away from the group to shake Mr Schue's hand and accept the trophy. Luc was still shaking his head, looking completely exasperated. The New Directions were beginning to celebrate too, and Mr Schue sidled over to Luc.

"Your boys have quite a sound there." Luc nodded, looking down on the older man.

"Yes, you've got some guts to use those kind of moves." Mr Schue snorted, slightly.

"Yeah, there was some doubts…lots of personal problems, but they pulled through as group." Luc nodded.

"Yes, well, it's better for us than last year." Mr Schue looked at him.

"Yes, I was wondering what had happened, when I heard them sing like that I was surprised that you hadn't made it to Regionals last year." Luc snorted.

"Yes, well, I blame sports…I lost my second soloist in Football game at the beginning of the week, and then my soloist, my understudy soloist and my council leader in a lacrosse pile up, concussion and broken noses around, the day before…we had to pull out after that." Mr Schue "ahhed".

"That's unfortunate." Luc snorted.

"Yes, that's one way of putting it…on the plus side I managed to get a rule imposed that said that my performers couldn't play sport for a week before competition, shows, and concerts." Mr Schue nodded.

"That's a good idea, though I have to admit it's never been a problem for us."

"Lucky you, now excuse me whilst I collect my boys before my John Valjean, Marius, Enjorlas, Javert and revolutionaries scream themselves hoarse." Mr Schue raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment as Luc moved away. "Okay, birdies, save your voices for tomorrow…Sebastian, I don't want you talking, especially not to Blaine."

"_What_?" the Warblers burst out laughing at the look on Sebastian's face. Luc clapped him on the shoulder, and began to guide them towards the exit. When they got out, a car horn honked, and the boys, looking around, were greeted with the sight of thirty-something year old man, standing by a sports car. David broke into a grin.

"_Todd_!" he exclaimed, throwing himself into the man's arms. Luc tutted.

"David, you _can't_ just go around hugging random men!" David let go of him. "This isn't a random man, it's my first step-dad." Luc rolled his eyes.

"Oh, of course." there were laughs from most of the Warblers. "Touching as this family reunion is, can we get a move on?" David rolled his own eyes."Are you coming to the show?" Todd shook his head.

"That's why I'm here, but Craig, Victor and Adam coming to one each, I don't know about anybody else." David grinned.

"Right, cool."

"_David_! Bus is _leaving_!" David, along with the other Dalton boys, laughed as he hugged his step-father again. He swung into the bus, grinning, and Luc shook his head.

"You know you should have stayed, then you could have ridden back in that car." Luc glared at Nick as the bus dissolved into laughter again. Blaine grinned as he pulled out his phone, dialling Michelle's number with a great sense of trepidation.

"Hey Michelle." he said, wincing as he began to talk. The boys around him, doubled over, trying - and failing miserably - to contain their laughter at a conversation that they knew would result in Blaine trying to tear his hair out.

_"Oh, hey, Blaine...how was Sectionals?"_ Blaine grimaced at the forced tone to her voice that he knew was meant to be "sexy" and somehow give him a desire to want to go out with her, despite the fact that she couldn't have a conversation that didn't involve sex, celebrities or what was said in _Hello!_ magazine.

"Oh, it was good, yeah, we drew."

_"In first place?"_

"Naturally."

_"Did you wear the perfume I sent you?" _Blaine frowned. She'd sent him _perfume_? Really?

"Um, well, no...I, err, will use it..._tomorrow_!"

_"Oh, that's perfect, I'll be there...we could meet up afterwards...give your mouth another kind of exercise..?"_ Blaine winced and grimaced as he sank further down in his seat. The worst thing about the Crawford girls that tried to seduce him was that they were _really_ intelligent. They could all hold genuninely enlightening conversations, if they wanted to, but most of them managed to lower themselves to the intellectual level of an amoeba. It was a waste, in all honesty.

"Err, no, I need rest for the show in the evening, anyway, carols..."

_"Oh my god! Is that Blaine! Hey, Blaine!__"_ There were squeals and giggles down the other end, and Blaine made a mental note to make _David _or _Thad_ to do it next time. He almost laughed at the idea of _Thad_ dealing with the Crawford girls.

"Look, I have to go, actually, Luc wants a...a post-competition...rundown. I'll see you outside of Dalton...bye!" He hung up before they could say anything more. He handed his phone to David.

"Bury, _please_!" he begged. David smirked, and tucked it away. Blaine noted his good mood, generated by the win, seeing Todd and the knowledge that his step-fathers would be attending the show. "Next year, you can do it." David rolled his eyes.

"I'm in a good mood, Blaine, but I'm not going to agree to _that_!"

"But you and Elise-"

"Nope, I _won't_!"

"But she's your _girlfriend_!"

"And we have better things to talk about!" Blaine threw his hands over his face, groaning, as the others around them filled the bus with raucous, happy, laughter.

* * *

_This has probably been my best day at Dalton. I've gotten a lot of work done thanks to these guys. In fact, I feel quite secure and safe at Dalton for the first time. I'm certainly not missing home as much. Keats is really sweet. He's sort of touchy feely, but after everything that's happened it's almost a reassurance. His friends are kind to me. They're pretty big on the maths, and the only weird thing that's happened all day is the looks that Chris, Drew and Fred gave me when they saw me sitting with Keats and the others. That was a bit odd, either way, I'm fully prepared to talk to Blaine when he comes back…_

Kurt sighed, looking down at his phone for the umpteenth time. He was waiting for Mercedes' text on how the New Directions had done. The lack of response to any of his eager texts left him both worried and uplifted. It could possibly mean that they were too grief stricken to text, but it could also mean that they were in such a good mood they forgot. He still wasn't sure which side he was rooting for. He sighed, and ran a hand down his face.

"Alright there, Kurt?" Kurt looked up Keats who was busy annotating his copy of _The Crucible_ with his own notes. Kurt shrugged.

"I just wanna know what happened at Sectionals." Keats nodded.

"Right, well, the Warblers should be walking through the main door anytime soon, it'll be pretty obvious how they did." Kurt nodded.

"I know, it's just…I _wish_ my New Directions friends had texted me." Keats reached across and patted him on the hand.

"I'm sure they've got a good reason." he said, with a tender smile. Kurt smiled back, and moved back towards his history homework.

They worked in silence for a couple more minutes until a shout went up from a boy in the corner that Kurt didn't know.

"They're back!" he cried, and Kurt didn't doubt for a second who he meant. Kurt leapt to his feet, leaving behind his belongings, and dashed out with most of the other people in the room. Only five people were left behind. Vincent turned to Keats.

"Are you really into him?" Keats tore his gaze from the door, and looked into the eyes of his four curious friends. He shrugged.

"I don't know…" he trailed away, a distant look appearing in his eyes. "I think…I need to talk to Trinity." he got to his feet, and walked out of the room. The four boys left behind let out noises of annoyance that varied from low groans, to soft sighs.

"What do you think?" Vince raised an eyebrow at Andy.

"You're kidding, right?" Stuart rolled his eyes.

"If this is about Blaine-"

"_Of course_ it's about Blaine, haven't you _seen_ the way he looks at him." there was a long pause.

"Come on." said Parker, closing his books. "We might as well go find out what's happening…" there were some grunts and grumbles from the other boys who shoved their lids back onto their pens, and slammed their textbooks shut.

Kurt followed the stream of boys to the foyer. There stood the Warblers, and Luc, uniforms slightly rumpled, but their smiles wide.

"Well," demanded one of the boys. "did you win?" there were some conspiratorial looks, and Kurt could feel his heart pounding as hard as it had been when he was waiting for the announcement last year at Regionals.

"Well…" said Wes, drawing out the word, clearly enjoying the power he had over the crowd. "do you want the good news or the bad news."

"Just _tell_ them, Wesley." griped Luc, in a manner that suggested he wanted to leave the foyer today rather than in a week.

"Well, on the downside the New Directions are going to Regionals-" as most of the crowd sagged, Kurt's heart skipped a beat a little. "-but _so are we_!" there was a pause before a deafening roar erupted from the student body.

Kurt stood there, completely stunned, as the others surged to hug the Warblers. They'd _drawn_. He couldn't believe it! What a stroke of luck! This meant…_oh my god_! This meant he'd be competing against them at Regionals! He felt elated, he didn't even think that that was possibly, to draw, but it sent a happy feeling rushing through his body. He looked around, and saw Blaine, surrounded by girls, just outside the front door. Slipping past the celebrating crowd, Kurt stepped outside to where Blaine was being mobbed by the ladies that were - Kurt presumed - from Crawford. Blaine looked up at the sound of the door closing, and smiled at Kurt, effectively stopping his heart.

"Well, ladies, if you'll excuse me, I have Dalton business to attend to." he slid between their fingers, and swung an arm around Kurt. Kurt could feel his heart pounding at a million miles an hour inside his chest, and tried to keep cool. "Just keep walking." muttered Blaine, as they rounded the main building. "They've been stalking me for bloody _years_." Kurt chuckled, lightly, as Blaine walked them away.

"What did they want?"

"To go out with me." said Blaine in a grim voice, shuddering. "Unfortunately I have to maintain a good relationship with them because they're Larks."

"What?"

"Crawford's show choir, and we sing together…that's why I was talking to them; I needed their input on carols."

"Did you get it?"

"Surprisingly, between the offers of coffee and biscuits, yes. I normally don't get anything done when I talk to them." Kurt snorted, and Blaine removed his arm from Kurt's shoulder when he was sure there were no Crawford girls following them. Kurt missed the feel of Blaine's arm, and felt disappointed that Blaine had only been doing it to loose the girls in the first place.

"We need to talk." said Blaine, once he'd found a bench to sit on. Kurt, after standing awkwardly for a few seconds, sat down and nodded. "Your New Directions friends told me that you had your life threatened, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, they told me about what happened to you and your friend, you're right, I am lucky, but-" Kurt broke off, wanting to tell Blaine but unsure. "There's a reason he threatened to kill me…it was because-" Kurt swallowed heavily, closing his eyes. "-it was because…_he kissed me_." Kurt watched Blaine's look transition through confused, horrified, apologetic, and, finally, sadness. He reached over and put a hand on Kurt's shoulder.

"I'm really sorry." Kurt nodded, tears filling his eyes.

"And it was, it was, basically, the first time I'd ever been kissed, and I just…I was…" he lowered his head, sniffing, and embarrassed by his tears.

"Tissue?" Kurt looked up and saw Blaine dangling one in front of his face. Kurt accepted it, gratefully.

"Thank you."

"You know perfectly okay to cry, right? I spent most of my Christmas holiday crying." Kurt gave him a weak smile as he blew his nose. Blaine sighed, tapping his hands against his legs. "And Dalton's intimidating, and it's sometimes hard to get your head around it, but you'll fit in soon enough, I promise." Kurt smiled again.

"Thank you, but I think your fan club's found you." Blaine jumped, and saw that Andy was directing the group of Crawford girls in his direction. Blaine's face fell, and he glared at either the girls or Andy, Kurt wasn't sure.

"I _hate_ the opposite sex." he muttered. Kurt raised his eyebrows.

"My best friends at McKinley were girls."

"I'd noticed…okay, I don't hate _all_ of them. There are about five Larks I like, two of them are lesbians and the other three are dating Wes, David and Jeff, the rest are psychos." Kurt snorted, and watched Blaine dart away, into the main building.

_So we're not perfect, not yet, but at least we've talked. Now, that I stop and think about it, most people at Dalton seem prepared to be my friend; Blaine and his five friends, Juri, Chris, Trinity, Keats and his friends…and they're all understanding. I guess I'm not as lonely as I think. Either way, though, if I don't ace the audition it won't make a difference how many friends I've made. I've only get three days left, after all…_

* * *

**Next Time- Centre Stage: The show and the audition are here. Every second is filled with final preparation. Nerves are at their peak, and, through the friendliness and camaraderie, the signs of rivalries begin to reappear…**


	7. Centre Stage

**The Scholarship**

**Episode 7: Centre Stage**

_Well, I'm __**never**__ going to explode again. I had counselling on Friday, and it was __**awful**__. I couldn't say __**anything**__ to her…she decided I don't have to see her again, soon. Also, I never thought that I'd say this, but I'm getting kind of sick of both my songs. It's Saturday, and it's just before their first performance to the school of Les Mis, and I've been rehearsing since I got up. I'm a little worried that I might ruin my voice, but I should be okay. I'll have time to rest it during the play after all. I haven't had another chance to talk to Blaine, not about the audition, but I think that we've come to an unspoken agreement to not mention it until after the stress has passed. That being said, I think the stress is more likely to kill Flint than anyone. He hasn't said anything to anyone, and he's barely eating. The others are forcing him to on the threat that he'll faint on stage if he doesn't. I think that idea nearly made him faint. I'm going to hear Blaine's voice for the first time tonight, that should give me some idea of what I'm going up against…_

Kurt laid down the sheet music, and checked the time on his phone. He still had half an hour. He'd been alternating between _Defying Gravity_ and _Don't Cry for Me, Argentina_ for the past _two hours_ and he still couldn't decide which one he'd rather sing. A part of him was also tempted to go back to _My Heart Will Go On_, but he decided that that would be reckless because he'd barely practised that. It was starting to get stressful, and he was certainly glad for the amount of work he'd gotten through with Keats and the others yesterday. That being said he was beginning to regret giving Keats his number as he was constantly texting him. Right on cue his phone went off.

_Hey, you're welcome to sit with us at the performance.-Keats_

Kurt smiled, and tapped out that he would, seeing as everyone else he knew seemed to be involved in the play in some way. He turned back to the music. It wasn't immediately obvious which one was safer, either. A strange part of him was tempted to just slap on his leotard and dance _Single Ladies_, but that would be _too_ outrageous. He sighed again, and eyed the room. Juri had whirled through it like some sort of hurricane this morning, searching for his part, and then dropping it so he lost the last page. He'd also tried to get changed into his concert dress, but Kurt refused to let him go to breakfast in his tux, he could just see him spilling something onto his shirt which could only result in disaster.

_Have you had lunch?-Keats_

Kurt smiled again, liking the feeling he got that someone out there cared about him. Kurt glanced at his watch, and realised that he was about to miss the last sitting for lunch if he didn't hurry. He wasn't sure that he wanted any. The door to his room opened, and Parker stuck his head around.

"I have instructions to get you to come to lunch, now." Kurt smiled at the boy who seemed unwilling to come into the room.

"Okay, just let me put my stuff away." Parker remained in the doorway, and Kurt shot him a confused look. "You can come in, you know."

"No thank you," said Parker. "I'd rather not do myself any bodily harm." Kurt snorted, and carefully slotted the sheet music onto one of the shelves.

"Fair enough." Kurt pulled a scarf from his collection, knowing that it was chilly outside and the last thing he wanted was an infection, and wound it round his neck.

"You sound really good." complimented Parker as they made their way through the common room that was mostly deserted. Kurt smiled at him.

"Thank you." they walked into the grounds, and Trinity ran past, half dressed in their costume and yelling something about hats. Kurt laughed as they tumbled, rolled, and kept running as one. "How do they do that?" Parker shrugged.

"No idea, they tell us that there's a psychic connection between them, we just reckon they must have known each other their whole lives."

"Do you ever get use to it?" Parker nodded.

"Yeah, you stop thinking about them as three people and they just become Trinity."

"Who came up with that?"

"Mr Sutherland, he likes them a lot, he thinks they're fascinating." Kurt laughed.

"I guess that's one way of putting it." he let out a loud sigh, watching his breath form in the air. Parker looked at him.

"Are you okay?" Kurt shrugged.

"I just- which song did you think was better?" Parker looked mildly alarmed. He shrugged.

"I don't know…they were both good." Kurt sighed, again.

"I have to pick one, though." Parker tilted his head in thought.

"Why don't you do one for your audition, and the other for your Warbler audition?" Kurt stared at him, blinking incredulously. Why hadn't he thought about that?

"Parker, you are _brilliant_!" the deaf boy smiled at him.

"Thank you." they made their way into the building, and Kurt pulled off the scarf, and glanced at the boy next to him who seemed to prefer listening to Kurt talk about music than say anything much.

"So, what do you like doing?" Parker shrugged.

"I like…I like sitting on top of tall buildings and taking pictures of things." Kurt looked at him with a mildly raised eyebrows.

"Just on top of tall buildings?" Parker shrugged.

"It's my favourite place, you can see everything from up there." they fell back into silence after that, and Kurt realised that, unlike the other friends he'd made at Dalton, Parker did not feel the need to make constant conversation.

"Kurt!" Kurt looked and saw that Keats was sitting at a table with his other friends. "You need to eat!" he scolded as Kurt sat down and had a pasta salad shoved in front of him by Andy. Kurt gave him a warm smile.

"I know, I just lost track of time because I was singing." Keats rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, I'm pretty sure it's illegal to be as skinny as you." for some inexplicable reason Kurt found a faint blush working it's way onto his cheeks when Keats said that.

Kurt wasn't insecure about his body, far from it, but nobody had ever openly complimented him like that. In fact, nobody had really ever treated him like Keats did. Keats seemed to treat with a certain amount of…it wasn't respect, as such, but it made Kurt feel special. The other Dalton boys were nice, and he felt an incredible amount of fondness for Juri already, but they had a habit of seemingly forgetting that he was there, or that he didn't understand what was going on. Keats, however, paid him attention in a good way, and there was something calming in his grey eyes.

They ate lunch in a half silence. The other boys making conversation only to comment on their feelings towards the upcoming play; they were excited, and to make observations about the other people in the lunch hall. They seemed to be most interested in two teachers that Kurt didn't know, who were whispering together at the end of the teacher's table, and the boys kept laughing every time they looked around.

"Who are they?" asked Kurt, glancing over at them in confusion. Keats suppressed a smile as he turned to Kurt.

"That's Coach Cunningham, and Mrs Richardson, they're having an affair together." Kurt choked on his piece of pasta.

"How do you know?" all the boys snorted and rolled their eyes.

"_Everyone_ knows that." explained Stuart, half laughing. "They think they're being discreet, but the whole student body knows."

"Yeah, they're lucky that Mrs Daniels and Mr Hammonds are, basically, the only ones that _don't_ know." Kurt frowned at Andy.

"Why?"

"Because he'd fire them." said Vince, casually, biting into an apple. Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Oh yes." said Keats. "They're setting a "_bad example_", but none of the other teachers will tell on them." Kurt raised his eyebrows further.

"Why not?" the other boys shrugged.

"Code of conduct." guessed Parker. "You don't just grass up your fellow co-worker, just like we don't tell on each other if we break the rules." there were nods from the other boys at the table.

"That's an important lesson to remember." said Keats. "No matter what, we don't tell on each other. You only get punished if you get caught, that's the rule." Kurt nodded, and the other boys smiled at him in an encouraging manner.

_It seems the more I learn about Dalton, the more intriguing it becomes. The all-for-one-and-one-for-all attitude is refreshing, yes, but it seems a bit, well, dated. I'm not sure that I really get why they found the two teachers having an affair funny, I guess that'll probably something that will grow on me with time, but, from what I've seen of Mr Schuster and Miss Pillsbury, they're not likely to end up happy. Then again, they might not have psychotic wives who fake pregnancy and agree to adopt the child of two of his students. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that that kind of thing only happens at McKinley, or at least I hope it does…_

* * *

"Oh hell." muttered Blaine. He was peeking out of the curtain at the hall that was rapidly filling with Dalton boys and Crawford girls.

"What?" asked Nick who was busy stretching, and humming.

"Look at Kurt." Nick ran over to the curtain and peered out, looking for the new student.

"Oh fuck!" he exclaimed, and Flint, Jeff, David and Thad all turned around in surprise.

"Guys, _what_ are you doing?" demanded Flint, hands on his hips.

"Come look at this." they all stuck their heads round the curtains.

"What are we looking at?" whispered David.

"Look at Kurt." Blaine pointed towards the almost-Dalton boy, and four mouths dropped open.

"_What_ the hell?" exclaimed Jeff. "Since _when_ was he friends with Keats?"

"No flipping idea." muttered Blaine. "But _look_ at them, I mean, have you guys seen him laugh like that before?" there was a pause as they all stared at Kurt who was giggling, hand over his mouth, and leaning back in his chair, head tipping towards the ceiling.

"No." said David in a rather harsh voice. "No, I have not."

"Do you six have a death wish?" Blaine jumped at the sound of Sebastian's voice. He retracted his head, the others doing the same, and attempted to look as if he hadn't just been caught with his head out of the curtain.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, in a falsely calm voice. Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

"You're spying on the audience. You do know how Luc reacts to people doing that, right?" Blaine swallowed and nodded.

"Yeah, but-" he broke off, swallowing again. Sebastian looked at him intently.

"Are you okay?"

"Keats is chatting up Kurt." Sebastian's eyebrows skyrocketed as Blaine clamped a hand over his mouth, having blurted out the truth by accident.

"_What_?" he yelped, almost wrenching the curtains apart in his eagerness to see if what Blaine was saying was true. He jumped backwards, the curtains swaying alarmingly, a dark look on his face. "Okay, this ends-" he made to march off, but Trinity leapt out of nowhere.

"No."

"Don't."

"Stop." Sebastian looked down at them, glaring at the three boys who didn't seem at all intimidated by him.

"Move." he said, calmly, to the three small boys. They shook their heads.

"Don't start a fight."

"You guys have been doing good."

"Luc will _murder_ you all." there was a tense pause.

"Maybe he'll be okay." all eyes fell onto Wes, who was standing there with his arms around himself, looking self-conscious in his bishop costume. He sighed, and stepped closer to them. "Keats only got mad when he gets rejected…did Kurt look unhappy to any of you?" they shook their heads slowly. "Then he'll be fine." there was a tense moment. Blaine kicked at a bit of paper on the floor.

"Alright…where's Drew when you need him." muttered Blaine as they moved away.

"In the medical wing." said Chris, standing by some of the props with Fred. The others raised their eyebrows.

"Was it bad?" there was a pause as Chris and Fred exchanged thoughtful looks.

"Well, it wasn't _Drew_ bad, just normal bad." there were eye rolls from the boys.

"Why do you need him, anyway?" Blaine sighed and ran a hand through his untamed curls.

"Kurt's sitting with Keats." there was a pause in which they waited for gasps of shock that never came. Blaine raised an eyebrow. "You don't seem surprised." he commented. Chris shrugged.

"They were eating lunch together yesterday, I thought it was odd, but I was in a hurry…" he shrugged. Blaine glared at Chris.

"You let them eat lunch together?" Chris shrugged.

"He was already with them, what was I meant to say?"

"Chris' right." said Fred, shrugging some more. "What did you want us to say?" Blaine sighed, running a hand through his messy curls once more.

"Right, of course, you're right." there was a tense pause in which Blaine took several deep breaths to steady himself. "Right, okay, I'm good. You're all right…I'm good now." there were raised eyebrows.

"Sure?" asked David, and Blaine noticed that his friends were all still staring at him with concerned expressions. Blaine nodded.

"Yeah, I just…you know what, forget it." he took a deep breath, and Sebastian rubbed his hands together. Wes frowned up into his friend's face.

"You alright there, man? You look kind of ill." Sebastian gave him a weak smile.

"Couldn't sleep last night. I've never been so nervous in my-"

"Boys, if you're not in your places in precisely _three seconds_ I'll kill you all on Tuesday." the boys jumped, and Chris and Fred dashed off the stage. Blaine looked up at Sebastian.

"You'll be bril-" he stepped forward, but was prevented from hugging him by Luc.

"Do _not_ hug him in his costume." Blaine held up his hands, and Luc gave them all a look that sent Trinity scampering away. Thad ducked his head and moved off. Blaine swallowed under the look Luc was giving him. "I don't want to know what's going through your mind, Blaine, but please just sing the right notes, and fume later." Blaine smiled at that, and he gladly walked away from Sebastian with his other friends.

Blaine and the others hurried to the side where they would act as extra voices for the chorus. There were nervous looks on Flint and Nick's faces. Thad looked as though he may be sick, and Blaine had heard enough of his mutterings at night about stuttering to know it was his utmost fear to stutter over his small solos. However, Blaine had never heard him stutter whilst he sung so he was confident the fear was unfounded. Just like Flint's fear of forgetting the lyrics.

"Good luck guys." muttered Chris who had appeared unexpectedly by their side with the silver for Sebastian to steal. Blaine swallowed heavily. This play seemed to be a lot bigger than the other one he'd done, and he guessed it was because in that he'd simply played Macduff's son, and been murdered very quickly.

* * *

_I'm really excited to be honest. The whole of Dalton and Crawford together, doesn't quite fill the hall, probably because there's so many involved in the play, but it's certainly enough to be intimidating. There's one thing I don't get, though, if Blaine is one of the lead singers why is he not playing Marius or Enjorlas? I would have thought that he'd be better than Flint or Nick, unless they're all __**amazing**__, that makes me just a tad worried about getting into Warblers. If they're all so good…either way, I guess I should just sit back and enjoy the play…_

Kurt didn't have to wait long to be completely hooked by the play. He had fully prepared himself to hate Sebastian with a passion, but found that he could not. He'd barely finished the prologue before Kurt was forced to admit that he was an _outstanding_ singer, and that he fully deserved to be Jean Valjean. Wes was good as the Bishop, but he didn't have the stage presence that Sebastian possessed. In fact, Kurt got the distinct impression that Wes didn't really want to be on the stage. The blonde boy, who he remembered was called Liam, playing Javert was good, too, but he kept glancing at Sebastian for, what looked like, support and Kurt guessed that it was meant to be subtle, but it just looked odd and completely out of character.

Sebastian's renditions of _What Have I Done?_ and _Who Am I?-The Trial_, were enough to convince Kurt that there was an incredibly slim chance that he would ever be a soloist for the Warblers. Kurt knew that he was good, but Sebastian sounded like a recording. Kurt was suddenly insanely glad that he didn't have to sing against Sebastian. He also noticed that Keats was completely blown away by his voice, if his wide eyes and slack jaw was anything to go by. Andy, Vince and Stuart looked mildly bored by the whole affair - he already knew that musicals weren't their thing - and he noticed that Parker had switched off his hearing aide. He was still watching the stage, though, and Kurt wondered whether that was just an attempt to be polite.

He had been impressed with whoever was playing Fantine. She'd convinced Kurt completely, and made him almost shed a tear when she was dying, but he was unimpressed by their Cosette and Gavroche. Neither of them looked at all like children, and Sebastian seemed to strain slightly when he carried her off stage. However, they did have an okay voices, even if he had to strain to hear all the lyrics to _Castle on a Cloud_, and the boy playing Gavroche had a tendency to shout. His words were rushed, too, but Kurt guessed that that was probably more to do with opening performance nerves than anything else.

He sat upright when Flint and Nick came on in _Look Down_. They didn't have that much to sing in that song, but it gave Kurt a lot to be excited and nervous about. On the one hand, he was sure that they were going to be brilliant, but it worried him that - if they were that good and only singing back up - what would Blaine be like? It put him on the edge of his seat, and when Liam gave his performance of _Stars_, Kurt began to feel seriously worried about his chances of getting into the Warblers. They were singing like a musical cast, like his recording of the musical.

By the time they'd reached the interval Kurt actually felt like he might be sick. Any amusement he felt at the sight of Blaine with a mass of curly hair, vanished when he began to sing. Playing a drunk or not, Kurt could tell that he was at least as good as Flint, and could probably easily play Marius. He'd heard them all sing, now, as Jeff, David and Thad were playing Combeferre, Courfeyac, and Feuilly respectively, and Kurt wasn't sure he could say that he was easily better than them. They all had a confidence in their voices, and Blaine was right when he said that Thad didn't stutter and sing. Their finale had Kurt on his feet, and he was equally impressed with the Cosette and Eponine, and he gave them a standing ovation. Vince had somehow managed to fall asleep, though Kurt couldn't understand how he'd managed that, and Parker flicked his aide back on. Stuart and Andy were stretching, and Keats had his lips pursed.

"What did you think?" he asked as they got to their feet and stretched.

"I'm screwed." he said, honestly. "I didn't realise that they were _all_ so good." Keats rolled his eyes as Kurt sank back into his seat. "I mean, _how_ is Flint not singing solo? Seriously, _how_?" Keats shrugged.

"The Warblers used to share the solos more until Blaine came." Kurt raised an eyebrow as Keats retook his seat, and leaned on his elbow to face Kurt full on. "Then Sebastian refused to sing with anyone who wasn't him…" he shook his head. "It also helped that Curtis was _more_ than happy to step aside." he shook his head. Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"You mean that Blaine only got solos because someone else stepped aside?" Keats made an indecisive motion with his head.

"Well, yeah, kind of…it's complicated." there was a long pause in which Kurt raised his eyebrows higher, and Keats shrugged. "I don't really know, I'm not that involved in the Warblers." Kurt sighed, slightly, getting the feeling that Keats wasn't being _truly_ honest with him, but letting it go because Keats was always kind. He licked his lips, slightly, and sought for another topic of conversation.

"So, um, who was playing Thénardier?" Keats blinked, and half-glanced at the stage.

"Oh, um, Travis."

"Is he a Warbler?" Keats shook his head.

"No, he's in the other choir."

"And he's a Senior, right?" Keats nodded again.

"Indeed…Travis is…he's a good singer, but I've never seen him do something like this." a smile quirked at Keats' lips, and Kurt just let them fall back into silence.

_The rest of the play was drop dead __**amazing**__! I'm seriously disappointed that I didn't get a chance to be in it, and, of course, completely freaked out by my upcoming auditions. I'm not ashamed to say that Sebastian's 'Bring Him Home' brought a tear to my eye. I could see, though, that he looked completely relieved at the end, guess he's not so unflappable after all. I just remembered that Wes, David and Jeff were dating the women playing Fantine, Cosette and Eponine. I wonder what their names are, they're certainly amazing. They must be the three of five girls that Blaine actually likes from Crawford. Oh god, my audition with Blaine is in practically no time! I've also been informed by Juri to not expect to see him, which means I'm not going to see Blaine, either. That's a shame, but at least that means he's not going to have any time to prepare for the audition…unless he sings whatever they did at Sectionals, then I'm probably screwed. _

* * *

Blaine hadn't noticed that David was pacing until he fell over onto his face. Blaine turned round to look at the boy who was lying on the floor with a raised eyebrow. The other Juniors had also turned to stare at him. Trinity were edging forward, cautiously poking him with their toes.

"Um, David?" began Flint, caution evident in his tone. "What the hell are you doing mate?" David let out a long overdue groan. He rolled onto his back as a couple of Crawford girls came running by. Blaine groaned and dived behind Thad, who looked positively alarmed at being used as a shield, and one of them - who played Cosette - stopped. She stood, one foot either side of David's head, hands on hips, and glared down at him.

"Hey Elise." he said, weakly.

"David Thompson, get _off_ the floor before you destroy your costume." David looked down at himself.

"I'm a revolutionary that dies, I don't think there's much to destroy." Elise snorted, and began to jab him with her toe.

"Up, _now_." she commanded, and then stood aside as he began to get up. Ignoring her boyfriend, who was currently making pouty faces as he got to his feet, she walked over and kissed Flint on the cheek.

"You were amazing." said Flint as he hugged her, and she smiled at him.

"As were you." the others observed the scene.

"Man are you lucky Flint's gay." said Jeff in a not-so-subtle whisper. David glared at his roommate. Elise let go of her Marius, and swooped over to Nick, kissing him on the cheek too, and complimenting him. "Now you're in danger." David stomped on Jeff's foot, glaring at Nick as he smiled, flirtatiously, at his girlfriend. Blaine rolled his eyes, and decided that it was safe to come out from behind Thad.

"Why were you pacing anyway?" he asked with a frown. David blinked, tearing his narrowed eyes from Elise and Nick.

"What?"

"You were pacing, why?" David sighed, folding his arms across his chest.

"Adam's coming tonight." he said, simply, sitting down on a random stool that was just placed backstage. All the other boys raised their eyebrows.

"Why is that bad?" asked Flint, brow furrowing. "You have a _creepily_ good relationship with your step-fathers."

"Yeah, I don't get along half as well with _Tristan_." David raised one eyebrow at Nick, and the boy shrugged. "What? It's true... oh, okay, but it's not _just_ because I told him he looked like a walrus…" there were eye rolls from the other boys, and Elise walked over to David, moving to stand behind him and rubbing his shoulders.

"Why are you so worried about Adam coming? You were _overjoyed_ when you told me that Todd said they were coming."

"Yeah, and I'm _really_ glad he's here…I just didn't want him here _first_." there were raised eyebrows and confused looks, and he sighed. "Him and mum… the divorce isn't that old, you know it happened in the summer, but she's not even dating anyone…" he sighed and ran a hand over his face. "It just makes things with Adam weird. You know, they way she didn't cheat on him…" there was an awkward pause before Trinity burst into hysterics and ran off. The group blinked as one.

"Well…that was unexpected." there were snorts at that.

"For you, El, maybe…for us…" Flint shook his head in a long suffering manner, and Elise began to laugh.

"Where's Cat?" asked Jeff, suddenly. Elise shrugged.

"I think she wanted to talk to Jen, it looked serious." Jeff gnawed at his lip and Elise rolled her eyes. "She's not breaking up with you."

"I wasn't thinking that!" exclaimed Jeff, the sudden colour in his face contradicting him. The others all began to laugh at his expense, and Jeff crossed his arms across his chest looking like a petulant five year old. "I hate you all." he proclaimed and then stalked away, nose firmly held up in the air. They watched him go, and then doubled up again. David was leaning against Elise, her arms looped around his neck, and not looking half as stressed as he had been a couple of minutes ago.

Luc appeared on the scene, his brows dipping at the sight of pure hilarity before him. His eyes darted between the five boys and one girl with a suspicious glint in them. It was clear, by the expression on his face, that he was struggling to comprehend how such light hearted behaviour could be happening before their first show, or how they could not have noticed him.

"Alright people." he clapped his hands together, and they all jumped, trying, and failing spectacularly, to pretend that they hadn't just been laughing for the past ten minutes. "Where's Jeff?" he demanded, looking around the group and noting that the blonde Combeferre was missing. They all shrugged as one.

"He stormed off." explained Nick. Luc raised an eyebrow at the casual way he said that.

"It wasn't a serious this-is-the-end-of-our-friendship kind of storming off, he just got sick of our teasing." Luc rolled his eyes, hands finding his trouser pockets.

"Oh, I wonder why." he muttered. "Now, get to your places. Also, has anyone seen Tyler?" they all shook their heads as one. Luc tutted. "He better not be late because I was _not_ impressed with his performance."

"What was wrong with it?" Luc raised his eyebrows, slightly coldly, at David.

"You know perfectly well that he seemed to favour shouting over singing, and he was too rushed." there were eye rolls.

"He was just nervous." assured Blaine, and Luc shrugged.

"Either way, get to your places…we have a show to perform."

* * *

_Okay, I'm freaked out. I have no idea where the weekend went. I spent Sunday practising, and got dragged out for meals by Keats and his friends. I barely saw the others as they were either performing, rehearsing or sleeping. Juri kept almost crashing out in his tux, and the amount of wrinkles on it nearly caused me to have a heart attack…I dread to think what Luc would have done if he'd seen it. I managed to get him ironing it, though, and Chris looked like he might faint when he saw that scene. Either way it's Tuesday, and my audition is __**at lunch**__. I feel like screaming I'm so nervous. Burt and Carole are coming down to watch. I just hope I can do this well. If I don't screw up, I come to Dalton, if I do…I don't really want to think about that. _

Kurt adjusted his bag strap and tried not to make eye contact with anyone. After the success of the show, Kurt couldn't walk down a corridor without one of the people he was with getting a high five. Most people were also offering them to him, and giving him a pat on the back for good luck. Kurt found it a bit unnerving, and, because of his nerves, he found that it just gave him a strong desire to throw up. He knew that, had this been any other day, he would have been revelling in the attention that was being showered up on him, but not today. Today, he just couldn't look at anyone.

"Chin up, Kurt." said Nick in a cheerful voice, gladly receiving a high five from a Freshman who looked over excited. Kurt sighed and raised his head slightly.

"You should try smiling, Kurt, you look like you're going to your last lesson. You're not _doomed_." Kurt sighed as he looked at Jeff who stood by his other side.

"I might be…" he said in low voice. "I just- if I screw this up…" he sighed again. "I _can't_ go back to McKinley." Flint gripped his shoulder tightly.

"We know." he assured him. "We know that you can't go back, don't worry." he sighed. "We can't guarantee anything, obviously, but we're all rooting for you. _Blaine's_ rooting for you, you know, he's just struggling with his conscience, or whatever." Kurt gave him a weak smile.

"I just- I _really_ feel like I might be sick." there was a pause before Nick handed Jeff his bag, and Flint took Kurt's.

"Come on," he said, hook his arm under Kurt's. "let's get you something to drink." Kurt was unable to protest as Nick all but _carried_ him to the lunch hall.

"Nick." said one of the ladies who was working there, setting up lunch. "Shouldn't you be in lessons?" Nick gave her a charming smile.

"Yes, yes I should be, Stacey, but Kurt here needs something to drink, and eat." Kurt shook his head, vigorously, absolutely sure that he couldn't stomach any food.

"Is he ill?"

"No, Stacey, he's just got a scholarship audition." her expression cleared and brightened.

"Oh _you're_ Kurt Hummel, we've heard a lot about you. I'll go rustle something up right away."

"No, I- Nick, it's okay." Nick gave him a smile, depositing Kurt into a seat and dropping down opposite him.

"Kurt, this fine, I promise. I do this _all_ the time. You know, in Freshman year, when Blaine came he use to have panic attacks over _nothing_, and I brought him here, _every time. _Got him some water, and some biscuits and he was fine. I do this for everyone." Kurt nodded, swallowing heavily.

"Thank you." Nick smiled, again.

"Trust me, between Blaine, Thad and Flint, I've spend _a lot_ of time here. That's why I'm on first name terms with Stacey." At that precise moment Stacey came back with a plate loaded with biscuits and a two cups, one with water and one with squash.

"Hands off Nick, this is for Kurt. Eat up Kurt, you look awfully pale and skinny." Kurt gave her a weak smile, and gingerly picked up a biscuit.

_At least they're trying to take care of me, even though eating these biscuits is more like torture than anything else. I guess I should be grateful, though, because, after all, I did get pretty upset when I thought that they thought that I was second rate._

"How was counselling?" asked Nick as he escorted Kurt to the hall. Kurt, who had only managed to stomach a third of the biscuits, but had drunk both drinks, gave him a shrug.

"Not that helpful. I couldn't say anything." Nick nodded.

"Yeah, I thought you might say that." Kurt looked at him, eyebrows raised. "They referred Blaine there, and Thad for a little bit too, and they both said that she was rubbish." Kurt nodded.

"Right, well, I don't have plans on going back." Nick snorted, and Kurt felt his heart leap as he stepped into the hall. It suddenly twice as big. Nick gave him a smile as the door on the other side opened and Hammonds, Luc and Burt and Carole walked in. Kurt took a deep breath, he totally _wasn't_ going to faint.

_I am __**so **__nervous. I just have to keep calm. Deep breaths, hug dad, and smile. It's weird how nervous Hammonds looks, and the Warblers, too, don't look like they're particularly comfortable. Where's Blaine? He's not with the others. Oh god, he better not be late, I'm not sure my heart can take much more…_

* * *

Blaine Anderson was hurrying towards the main hall. Why Luc wanted to hold the audition there, he didn't know. Either he wanted to intimidate Kurt - though, he couldn't see the point of that - or he was trying to impress Burt and Carole - again, he couldn't see the point. He paused, for a second, to readjust his grip on the books in his hands. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Keats come to a stop, and then - to his complete surprise - he saw Sebastian chasing after him.

"Hey! Keaton! Wait up." Sebastian came dashing after the Junior, aware that he was running late for Blaine and Kurt's auditions. The boy came to a stop, his eyes blazing slightly.

"_What_?" he demanded, paper almost streaming from his arms as he whirled around.

"I need to talk to you."

"I'm _not_ interested in what you have to say, _Sebastian_!" Sebastian sighed, stepping forward.

"Look, just hear me out." Keats sneered at the head boy.

"No. I don't have to, I don't _want_ to!" Sebastian closed his eyes, briefly, and took a huge breath.

"Look, _Bright Star_-"

Blaine stormed away, throwing open the outside doors dramatically, causing Sebastian to jump as they slammed against the wall. Anger burnt through his body, and he marched across the lawn, fuming openly. How could he? He was- they weren't- how could he call him _that_? However, he'd left so hurriedly that he didn't hear Keats' hiss in response.

"_Don't __**ever**__ call me __**that**__, again_!"

Blaine threw open the doors, making them bang, and everyone in the hall looked at him, and then did a double take. Eyebrows rose when they took in his seething expression, and tense posture. He marched straight up to Luc, who looked incredibly taken aback. Sebastian came dashing in, looking troubled, and most eyes darted between them, as Sebastian sank into a seat and put his chin in his left hand, right hand tapping angrily against his leg.

"I want to change my song." said Blaine from where he'd stopped before Luc. Luc raised an eyebrow at Blaine, a smirk fighting to stop itself from spreading across his face.

"Excellent! What do you want to change it to?" Blaine leant forward, and muttered something in his ear. Luc got a devilish grin on his face, his eyes moving form Blaine to Sebastian in a knowing manner. Then he clapped his hands together, springing to his feet. "Alright, let's get this show on the road."

_I don't know what happened, but Blaine looks __**really**__ angry. Mercedes said he exploded on her, but I hadn't __**really**__ believed that. He looks kind of scary. That also makes me worried about his performance. On the one hand it could make him careless, but seeing as he just asked to change his song, he's picked something that he can sing with passion, and __**that**__ worries me. Okay, Kurt, this is your moment to shine, you've got this._

Kurt swallowed and got up from his seat. Burt clapped him on the back, and Carole squeezed his hand as he edged past them, songbook clutched in his left hand, and ran down and then up onto the stage. He swallowed again, taking a deep breath as he stood opposite Blaine, who still looked angry.

"Kurt, heads or tails?" Kurt tore his eyes from the fuming boy across from him, and looked at Luc.

"Um…tails." Luc tossed the coin, and Kurt felt his heart plummet when he saw the head that was resting on the back of Luc's hand.

"Blaine, where do you want to go?" Blaine continued to glare at the floor, before snapping out of it.

"Pardon?" Luc rolled his eyes.

"First or second?" Kurt watched as Blaine blinked several times, and mildly furrowed his brow in thought.

"First." Kurt took a deep breath, and Luc indicated that he should go and sit in the front row. Blaine stood on stage, rooting through his back until he found the right set of music. "I'll play for myself, thanks." he added to Luc who was still on the stage. Luc nodded once, moving to sit by Hammonds. Blaine rolled his shoulders, and moved to the piano stool. Kurt could feel something in his stomach clench as he watched him prepare to play.

The introduction was enough to cause everyone to start, most eyes darting towards Sebastian, who had sat bolt upright.

_Head under water_

_And they tell me to breathe easy for a while_

_The breathing gets harder, even I know that_

_Made room for me but it's too soon to see_

_If I'm happy in your hands_

Kurt didn't know how he was meant to feel. On the plus side, it looked like things weren't good between him and Sebastian, but Blaine was singing this with every part of him. He was making it his own song as his fingers danced across the keys, and he closed his eyes. This was _bad_.

_I'm unusually hard to hold on to_

_Blank stares at blank pages_

_No easy way to say this_

_You mean well, but you make this hard on me_

_I'm not gonna write you a love song_

_'Cause you asked for it_

_'Cause you need one, you see_

Sebastian was sitting upright, his eyes wide, and mouth gaping. Luc was smirking outright, and all Kurt's other friends were clearly trying not to start giggling at whatever they found funny. Kurt sure as hell didn't think that there was anything to be laughing at in this situation.

_I'm not gonna write you a love song'_

_Cause you tell me it's_

_Make or break in this_

_If you're on your way_

_I'm not gonna write you to stay_

_If all you have is leaving I'm gonna need a better_

_Reason to write you a love song today_

And Blaine hadn't even tried to be subtle because, whilst he sung the chorus, he opened his eyes and glared right at Sebastian, who had slowly, slowly, sunk further down into his seat, hand out to stop Wes' whispered questions. All the anger that had been bottled up in his tense posture seemed to be poured out into song, fingers banging at the chords without instruction from the music, and all through the second verse and chorus the Warblers began to clap along, smirking to themselves, and Blaine almost looked like he was beginning to enjoy the performance he was giving.

_Promise me that you'll leave the light on_

_To help me see with daylight, my guide, gone_

_'Cause I believe there's a way you can love me_

_Because I say_

There was something almost desperate, Kurt thought, about the way Blaine sung those lines, and it hurt Kurt to hear it because Blaine's voice was rich, and smooth, and it had moulded the song so perfectly into it's own shape, and Kurt _wanted_ that. He didn't know why, but the way he was singing just made him fall for him, more and more.

_If your heart is nowhere in it_

_I don't want it for a minute_

_Babe, I'll walk the seven seas when I believe that_

_There's a reason to_

_Write you a love song today_

He sang the ending at the top of his voice, head tilted back, but still with a blazing look in his eyes, like he wanted to give Sebastian an ultimatum. Sebastian had his head hidden behind his hands, and Blaine breathed deeply, several times when he'd finished. The Warblers stared at him for a second, letting him calm down, before getting to their feet as one. Blaine looked away, the fire dying from inside his eyes, and gave the group of boys a sheepish grin, red faced. Luc got to his feet, clapping and giving him the thumbs up.

Kurt clapped because he didn't know what else to do. Fear and nerves were coursing through him. He could hear his heart pounding over the enthusiastic praise of the Warblers. Luc turned to him, and raised an eyebrow. Kurt took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second, before walking onto the stage.

"Accompaniment?" he asked, and Kurt nodded handing him the book. Luc flipped to the marked page and raised his eyebrows. "You sure?" he asked, and Kurt nodded, once.

"Yes, yes I am." Luc gave him a look that said if-you-say-so, and moved to sit down at the piano. He then looked over at Kurt, one eyebrow raised.

"Ready Kurt?" Kurt nodded, looking over at his father who nodded, and Carole smiled, clearly feeling nervous for him. He took another deep breath, and looked over Luc.

"Yes, yes I am." Luc gave him a genuine smile and began to play. Just like with Blaine's song people shot upright as they recognised the introduction. There were raised eyebrows, and Kurt just smiled.

_Something has changed within me _

_Something is not the same _

_I'm through with playing by the rules _

_Of someone else's game _

He knew he was meant to be quiet at the beginning, but he reckoned he was too quiet. He could feel the nerves constricting his chest, making it hard for him to breathe deeply. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he prepared for the second verse, he just had to trust in himself, and _leap_.

_Too late for second-guessing T_

_oo late to go back to sleep _

_It's time to trust my instincts _

_Close my eyes: and leap! _

Most of the Dalton boys were looking on in interest. They had their mouths slightly open, and Sebastian was sitting up again, a curious expression on his face, as Kurt's voice grew in confidence and volume.

_It's time to try defying gravity _

_I think I'll try defying gravity_

_Kiss me goodbye I am defying gravity_

_And you wont bring me down! _

Kurt felt an almost smile work it's way onto his face as he saw the mouth's of the Dalton boys drop open as he sang the chorus. They clearly hadn't been expecting what he was singing. Burt and Carole were holding hands and exchanging proud smiles.

_I'm through accepting limits _

_'Cause someone says they're so _

_Some things I cannot change _

_But till I try, I'll never know! _

And now he was into the song, and he could feel this because he wasn't accepting that he couldn't come. They'd pushed for this, and he didn't know if things could get better with all the prejudice, and the hate, but if they didn't _try_, then nothing would ever get better.

Blaine shared a stunned look with David who sat next to him, both amazed by his vocal range. Flint's mouth was hanging open, and Nick kept pinching himself. Jeff's eyes looked ready to pop out of his head in shock, and Sebastian looked, albeit rather grudgingly, incredibly impressed. Luc, who Kurt couldn't see, had his eyebrows raised towards his hairline, and a smile on his face. Only Thad looked completely unruffled by what he was singing, if he anything he just looked fascinated.

_I'd sooner buy defying gravity _

_Kiss me goodbye I'm defying gravity _

_I think I'll try defying gravity_

_And you won't bring me down!_

_Bring me down!_

_Ohh ohhh ohhhh!_

The Dalton boys were on their feet as Kurt held his last note, already clapping. He broke off, feeling giddy due to the adrenaline, and he didn't think he could stop smiling. He'd almost thought that, right at the end, he was going to choke, but he hadn't. He took several deep gulps of air to steady himself, Luc came over, handing him the songbook and clapping him on the shoulder.

"Very impressive." he said, in a low voice, and Kurt let out a half laugh, not really able to think straight. Burt gave him the thumbs up, his expression speaking volumes about how proud he was of Kurt, and Carole was crying. Luc wandered over to Hammonds, as the other Warblers came to shake his hand.

"That was _impressive_." said Wes, shaking his hand. "Very impressive." the others were clapping him on the back, and Nick threw his arms around him.

"You never said you could sing like _that_!" he exclaimed. Kurt laughed, stumbling slightly due to Nick's added weight, and Blaine caught his elbow with a smile on his face that caused Kurt's already overworked heart to flip.

"It's true, that was unfair." he continued to smile, almost knowingly, at Kurt when Hammonds cleared his throat.

"We've made our decision." hands tightened on Kurt's shoulders, and there was a shared feeling of nerves. "Kurt, welcome to Dalton." Kurt felt his mouth fall open. The other Dalton boys were cheering and giving him congratulatory hugs. Kurt broke away though, and ran over to his father, throwing his arms around him. Burt hugged his son too, and it was only as he looked into his father's proud eyes that it really sunk in.

_I'm going to __**Dalton**__! I'm actually here! This is it! I'm safe! I just- I can't believe it! And they all…they're all so happy for me. I just can't believe it! Just a week ago I was scared for my life, but now I feel on top of the world, like there's nothing I couldn't do, except…_

Kurt caught sight of Blaine leaving the hall, with Sebastian following after him. The other Dalton boys were gesturing that Kurt should follow, talking about a party. Burt gave him a clap on the back.

"Go on." Kurt smiled and ran after the other boys, just in time to dash into the corridor and see Sebastian trying to talk to Blaine.

"Look, Blaine-"

"I'm _not_ interested, Sebastian." there was a heavy sigh, and then a hand caught his elbow, pulling him round.

"Look, you _have to_ listen to me!"

"No, I don't have to, and I don't _want_ to!" Sebastian stiffened, recognising that the words were those that Keats had used.

"Blaine, _please_!" his grip tightened, and Blaine struggled.

"Sebastian, let go!"

"No, you _have to _listen to me!"

"_Bastian_, you're _hurting me_!" Sebastian let go of Blaine, leaping back, looking as if he'd been burnt. A crowd was gathering, and Kurt stood on tiptoe, as the others edged forward a little bit.

"I-I…_Blaine_." Blaine was backing away, moving towards Nick and the others.

"I'm sorry, Bastian." there were tears in his eyes, and Kurt wondered what the hell was going on.

"You don't have to write me to stay." he said, suddenly. Blaine froze, spinning around.

"_What_?" Sebastian swallowed, looking uncomfortable for the first time ever. Kurt blinked, watching the scene with heavy hearted interest.

"You don't have to write me to stay- I'm not leaving." Blaine's mouth hung open.

"But-but…I…you…_Keats_." Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"I was just trying to appeal to him."

"But you _promised_. You _promised_ me that you'd _never_ call him _that_ _again_!" Sebastian swallowed, shifting awkwardly again.

"Look, I just- we're both worried, right?" Blaine nodded, slowly. "There's…it was the _only way_ I could think of…_he_ told me to never call him that again." Blaine swallowed.

"Oh." Sebastian shifted, glancing at the floor and pursing his lips.

"Yeah…look, Blaine." he said, edging towards Blaine. "I'm not _perfect_…and I can't- I don't…Blaine, I'm _trying_. I just-" he burst into laughter. "-you know you've made me consider an actual _monogamous_ relationship, Blaine!" Blaine was going red, looking at the other people in the hall who were watching with interested expressions. "I just- Blaine I'm _trying_, for _you_." Blaine swallowed. "You know, I've never…this is the first time I've ever tried _to change_. Blaine, you know- when I met _him_ it was just; "oh, hi, nice to meet you", but when I met you…I _wanted_ to get to know you." Blaine blinked at him.

"I just- _Bastian_, I-" Sebastian shook his head, continuing to talk.

"You know, had I been given _anyone else_ to orientate I would have just dumped you on those five, and had nothing more to do with it, but I just-" he shook his head, and looked awkward and embarrassed. "So, there, I just- I'm sorry. You know, if you can forgive-"

"I forgave you the moment you said that I didn't have to write you to stay." Sebastian went slightly bug eyed.

"You mean that I just _bared_ my heart for _nothing_." Blaine, a sneaky grin appearing on his face, nodded. Sebastian growled. "_Anderson_!" Blaine just grinned, and then rolled his eyes.

"What the heck," he muttered to himself. "Sebastian Smythe, will you go out with me?" Kurt's jaw dropped.

_I- oh my god! I just…he didn't…he just __**asked Sebastian out**__! I just- I __**just**_ _got into Dalton. Wow, way to ruin my day. Worse of all, __**dad**__ is standing by my shoulder. Thank god he's only just going out of the hall. _

"Um, _what_?" exclaimed Sebastian, and Blaine's face fell. The crowd winced as one.

"Err, Sebastian, that was the point in which you squeal like a five year old, and jump into his arms." everyone burst out laughing at the idea of Sebastian jumping into Blaine's arms. Sebastian blinked.

"Right, sorry, I just- I wasn't expecting _you_ to ask _me_ out!" Blaine shifted from foot to foot.

"Well, answer?" Sebastian blinked and swallowed.

"Do you really need to ask that? After _everything_ I just told you?" Blaine began to smirk again, and Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Fine! _Yes_, Blaine Anderson I _will_ go out with you!" the boys let out a cheer, and began to clap as Blaine hid his head in his hands, and Sebastian turned to Liam. "Sorry, Saturday is cancelled." Liam rolled his eyes, but applauded, shaking his head.

Kurt did the same, trying not to appear disappointed or disheartened. He didn't want his dad to realise he had a crush on someone, especially not someone who had just gotten together with someone else in the middle of the corridor. Burt was muttering to Carole, but Kurt could tell that he was happy with kind of scene he'd just watched.

_And why wouldn't he be? After all, the whole reason I'm here is because I was bullied at my previous school for being gay. Now I'm in a school where two guys are asking each other out in the corridor, and their peers are cheering. It's the kind of school I want to be in. I wonder, though, exactly what they were rowing about. Blaine mentioned Keats, and Keats did sound a little funny when he mentioned Blaine last time…I wonder what that was about, and the way Sebastian reacted when Blaine said that it hurt…I might just be dreaming it all up, though, 'cause I'm insanely jealous. Yeah, that would actually make sense. On the plus side, though, I'm safe! I'm at Dalton, but I'm __**not**__ saying any famous last words; like what could possibly go wrong?_

* * *

**Next Time- Roadblocks: Kurt is now officially a Dalton boy, but it's just the first step down a long road to understanding his strange new school, and becoming a real student. For one there's his Warbler audition to deal with, and then there's Blaine. Now that Blaine's dating Sebastian there's more than one obstacle he has to overcome…**


	8. Roadblocks

**_Dear Readers,_**

**_First of all I would like to thank you all for the incredibly positive response that I've had to this story. The reviews, alerts and favourites all mean a lot to me, so thank you. Secondly, I will not be updating until, at earliest, the week after next as I'm going on holiday tomorrow and when I come back I have a four day music course so there won't be too much time for me to write. Either way, enjoy the latest chapter!_**

**_Sopphires._**

* * *

**The Scholarship**

**Episode 8: Roadblocks**

_Okay, so I've just hit a very strange part of my life. Everything for the past week has been about getting into Dalton Academy. I experienced a week of life there, though I reckon quite a lot of that wasn't a typical representation of it, and I've already made friends. The thing is, though, I thought that when I got in to Dalton everything would change. I'm not sure how, but I figured all the confusing things might just slot into place, but they haven't. It's still as hard to find my way around, and the lessons are still impossible. Somehow, though, Blaine is still my biggest problem…_

"Morning, Kurt." Kurt looked up and saw Parker smiling at him from across the hallway.

"Hey Parker."

"Well done on the audition." Kurt smiled, seemingly unable to get tired of hearing those words.

"Thank you, and thank you for the advice. I'd have still been stressing over it." Parker smiled again, and paused as Kurt looked between him and the kitchen where Blaine, Sebastian, Thad, Juri and Chris were sitting.

"Coming to the cafeteria?" asked Parker, and Kurt blinking, shrugged.

"Um, sure." he cast one glance at them, before following Parker.

"They can't come to breakfast." he explained, as they crossed the grounds. Kurt frowned.

"What?" Parker sent him a confused look.

"Well, Sebastian and Blaine can't come to breakfast in the cafeteria." Kurt continued to look confused. "They're under house arrest, didn't you know?" Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"House arrest? How? What _is_ house arrest?" Parker sighed, heavily.

"House arrest is when you can't leave your house-" Kurt rolled his eyes. "-for anything other than lessons, and a list of cleared activities like Warblers, Orchestra, Chess…the play, but that's over. You can't go off campus, except for something like Sectionals." Kurt let his mouth hang open.

"What did they do?" Parker rolled his eyes.

"Those two, David and Wes threw a party." Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Just the four of them?" Parker shook his head.

"No, there was a load of them, but they're the only ones that got caught…they were playing really loud music, they got drunk, one of them punched Liam-" Kurt gasped as they moved through the halls of Dalton. "-but that wasn't actually a big deal, anyway Hammonds got _super_ pissed because Sebastian's head boy, Wes and David are on Warbler council and Blaine's a lead. Then there was the whole tree house thing." Kurt quirked an eyebrow as they went to get trays, and Parker spooned out a bowl of porridge for Kurt to supplement his fruit salad.

"Tree house?" Parker nodded.

"Yeah," he said as poured out a glass of orange juice. "they - Sebastian, Wes and probably Liam - built a tree house out by the woods at the back of campus. We're not really allowed to go there, you know, but of course they do."

"They're actually lucky to not have been suspended." said Andy, slipping seamlessly into the conversation. Kurt raised his eyebrows.

"Really?"

"Yeah, but this is Sebastian and Blaine so what were we expecting?" Kurt frowned at Vince.

"You guys don't like each other?" there was a pause in which looks were shared, and everyone sighed as one, putting down their cutlery.

"It's not that we don't _like_ each other." said Keats, looking mildly worn out. "It's just we don't really…" he broke off, shrugging. "We're just different people." there were nods, but Kurt remained unconvinced.

"There's something else, though, right?" there were more sighs, and most eyes went to Keats.

"You're probably gonna find this out soon enough, so we might as well get it over with; you'll find that there are quite a few boys in our year that _don't_ like the Warblers." Kurt frowned, swallowing.

"Why not?" there was a long pause.

"Because the Warblers are _so_ popular." he said with a long sigh. "Our sports teams are _good_, but every school has that kind of team, not every private school as a _good_ show choir, and the Warblers _are_ good." Kurt frowned.

"So, what, you guys are jealous?" there were sighs, and Keats ruffled his wavy hair.

"It's more complicated than that; eighty per cent of the people had Dalton come from high pressurised kind of homes, where grades are _everything_, and basically _nothing_ is good enough. That's the case for me, Andy, and Stuart."

"My parents don't care, but not in the good not care way." Kurt nodded at Vince, and Parker smiled.

"My parents are quite cool with the whole thing."

"Anyway," said Keats, turning the conversation back to where it had been. "the Warblers has a _maximum_ of _twenty_ students. I think, now, there are 15, and that's practically _nothing_." Keats shrugged. "So it's kind of _bad_ when all they _ever_ talk about is the Warblers."

"Yeah," said Vince noisily crunching at a bit of toast. "no one _ever_ mentions that fact that us five have been in charge of the magazine and website since we were Freshmen. We're the _only_ people that work on it." Kurt frowned, grudgingly eating the porridge.

"So, you're saying, what? You guys are…_undervalued_?" Keats shrugged.

"It's just how some people feel."

"We're not saying the Warblers are bad people or anything." added Andy, hurriedly. "They're talented and they deserve the credit they get." Kurt sighed, setting down his spoon feeling a little disheartened.

_Great, just what I wanted to hear. I just got into Dalton, and was looking forward to joining the Warblers, only to be told __**that**__. I guess that they didn't mean to make me feel so discouraged, at least I hope they didn't. _

"Don't let that put you off joining." said Keats, placing a hand over Kurt's. "Show choir is your love, than go for it. I'm sorry that I couldn't see your audition, people have been saying that you sung like an angel." there were rolled eyes.

"Kurt, I'm sure your voice is beautiful, but nobody said that." Kurt frowned, glancing between Vince and Keats, who was glaring back at his friend, in a confused manner.

"What?" he questioned, not quite understanding the situation.

"You know what," said Stuart suddenly. "I'm gonna head off. Parker, Andy?"

"Yep." said Andy, leaping to his feet. Parker nodded, and Vince, slapping Keats on the back, left the table. Kurt stared at Keats in confusion. Keats was glaring at the table, seemingly suppressing the urge to yell or just loose complete composure.

"Err, Keats, want to give me some information?" the boy shook his head, raising it slightly, and Kurt saw that his ears had gone slightly pink as he clenched his jaw.

"You know, I have to talk to Trinity." he leapt from his seat and all but _ran_ towards the three boys who were sitting with Drew and Fred. Kurt stayed in his seat, blinking.

_Okay, I have no idea what just happened, like, __**really**__ no idea. I just- what the hell was that about? I don't get it. I know I should stop trying to figure these guys out, but __**really**__? I thought Keats and his friends were kind of normal…guess I got that part wrong. _

* * *

Blaine had never found things as awkward as they were with Sebastian as now. They'd had their moments; the uncomfortable silences after rows, or the tense moments of uncertainty when they just _didn't_ know how to act around each other. The problem was, though, was that they were meant to be dating. They were _dating_, but they couldn't look each other in the eye. It was like there was some unspoken agreement between them saying that they weren't going to discuss this now. It was only made more bearable by Thad, Juri and Chris' presence as they ate breakfast.

Another thing that was sinking in to Blaine was their current situation. The two of them were under _house arrest_. Before it hadn't really sunk in because, due to the play and Sectionals, they'd had so much authorised leave that it hadn't really mattered. Now, though, things were reaching their lowest point in this part of the term, and it meant that his only authorised leave was for Warblers, and Sport because his ban from Luc was lifted. Now, though, the consequences were that neither he nor Sebastian get off campus on a date. They couldn't leave the house after lessons. How the hell were they meant to do anything if they were locked in Franklin?

"So." said Sebastian, who was peeling an apple. "Want to hang out later?" Blaine blinked at him, torn from his depressing thoughts rather abruptly.

"Um, yeah, but I should probably check up on Kurt, I've kind of done a shit job as far as orientating him is concerned." Sebastian shrugged, and Blaine rolled his eyes. "Come on, you paid we _way_ more attention."

"Yeah, but I liked you."

"And I like Kurt." there were groans as his other friends, even Thad, banged their heads against the table.

"What?" Chris put his hands down on the table, feigning a look of patience.

"Blaine, he means he _liked_ you. You already- Blaine, are you winding us up?" Blaine cracked a smirk as Juri and Thad exchanged eye rolls.

"Hey, vere _is_ Kurt?" the others looked round, also noting the absence of the counter tenor. Eyes flitted back to Juri who was frowning.

"Did you get up before him?" asked Blaine. Juri shook his head.

"He vas avake, but I left before him." Sebastian got to his feet, a fixed expression on his face.

"I'll go see if he's okay." he strode out of the room. The four boys left looked at each other, perturbed expressions on their faces.

"Well, that was abrupt." Chris snorted at Blaine, and Juri shrugged. Thad picked up the book that had been by Chris' elbow, and began examining it. He raised an eyebrow at Chris, when he flipped to the inside cover, who grinned, sheepishly.

"He couldn't believe I hadn't read it, to be honest neither could I, I mean, remember when I just spouted quotes from _Romeo and Juliet_ throughout the _West Side Story_ rehearsals?" Thad nodded, seemingly not paying attention to what was actually being said.

"What is it?" asked Blaine, setting down his spoon. Thad slid the book across the table to him, cover open. Blaine, a mild frown on his face, picked it up and looked at it. His eyebrows rose, quickly.

"Bastian leant you his book?" Chris nodded.

"Yeah, I was shocked too. I'm going out on the weekend to get my own copy, but by then I'll have finished it." Blaine shook his head.

"You _need_ an e-reader." Chris rolled his eyes.

"That's what Feel _and _my parents keep saying, but I couldn't give up books. An e-reader doesn't have the same smell." to prove his point he picked up the book and sniffed it, breathing in deeply. It was this, possibly strange, sight that greeted Sebastian when he walked back in.

"Um, Chris, why are you molesting my book?" the boy hastily put down the book, looking guilty, and Sebastian moved to stand behind Blaine, who was going red by their proximity.

"I was just telling them that books smell nice." Sebastian raised his eyebrow, and leaned against Blaine, almost sending the younger boy into a cardiac arrest.

"Are you okay?" Blaine looked at Juri who was eyeing him in a confused manner. Blaine gulped in some air for a little bit whilst he nodded.

"Yeah…I'm good." for some reason, Sebastian being near him, or _touching_ him was all different now that they were _officially_ a couple. He couldn't explain why, but his brain seemed to be telling him that everything had changed, which now meant he was, once more, unable to deal with Sebastian.

"Blaine, you sure you're okay?" Blaine nodded, swallowing again.

"You know what, give me a minute." he leapt from the table, and Sebastian turned with mildly startled eyes to the others.

"Am I meant to follow him?" he asked. Thad shook his head. "I guess this isn't the point to mention that Kurt went to breakfast with Parker." Thad shook his head again, this time getting to his feet. Without saying a word, he hurried after Blaine. Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Oh, hallelujah, Mr 'I-won't-say-a-word' is going save the day."

Blaine closed the door to his room, and flopped down onto his bed. The helpless tears falling down his face. He put his hands over his head, and half hoped that Sebastian would follow him, but at the same praying that he wouldn't out of fear of mortification.

He was prodded, softly, on the back, and, with a smile to himself, he rolled over. He'd known, the moment he'd felt the gentle prod, that it was Thad. After he'd first joined, and the nightmares and everything that had happened, it had become their thing that, when he was upset, Thad would prod him, lightly, once to let him know that he was there and Blaine could speak to him if he wanted. Blaine gratefully accepted the tissue box that was proffered to him by Thad, pulling one out and blowing his nose.

"Red?" he asked. Blaine shook his head, and Thad retreated to his bed, sitting on it and crossing his legs, waiting for Blaine to talk.

Blaine sighed, wiping his eyes away with his hand. He tried to speak, but kept faltering, not really sure what the best way of describing how he felt was.

"I'm sorry." he said, eventually. Thad frowned, and Blaine gave him a smile. "I don't know how many times we've been in this situation, but you must be sick of it." Thad shrugged, his facial expression telling Blaine he wasn't really bothered either way. Blaine let out a breathy laugh, a smile cutting across his face, and he wiped away the lingering tears.

"I just- I don't really know how to act. I just-" he broke off, handing moving to his chest. "I can feel- in my chest. It's like a panic attack." he breathed deeply. "I don't think I can breathe. Why did I ask him out? Why did I-" his head was shoved down, his knees opening on instinct, and he could hear Thad breathing just inches from him. He gulped, deeply, and felt his head spin a little bit. He tried to think straight, but the pounding blood in his head was commandeering all his attention.

"Okay, okay, Thad, you can let me up." the pressure was relieved from his neck, and Blaine sat upright, giving his friend a small smile. Thad was crouched before him, eyes wide, clearly asking why he was having a panic attack now. Blaine shrugged.

"I think- I _know_ I didn't think this through…I just, I heard everything he said, and it was like 'oh, there you are'…you know?" Thad shook his head, looking completely confused. "It was like I know Sebastian, he cares about me, but I know he's not just- he's not-" Blaine let out a laugh, unable to explain. "Just hearing him say that, _admit_ that…the way he opened up. He suddenly wasn't unreachable, or too good for me. So I just asked him out…but I didn't think it through. I don't know how to act, anymore, I don't know what to tell Cooper, Emily…_dad_." he shook his head, feeling the panic at telling his father that he had a boyfriend seeping through. "And then there's…there's, well, you know- and I can't- I don't."

His rambling was cut short, when Thad reached up and hugged him. Blaine was absolutely taken aback, not sure that the boy had ever hugged him of his own volition before. Still mildly in shock, Blaine reached up and put his arms around Thad's back, holding him to him, and taking comfort in the beating of his heart and the warmth from his body. Blaine sniffed, loudly, and clung on for a little bit longer, appreciating the gesture that was being made as well.

"Okay, I'm okay." he took a deep breath, and Thad retreated back to his bed, perching on the edge as if he may be required to leap off to help Blaine - which, Blaine considered, wasn't such a crazy thought. He ran a hand through his hair. "So, what do I do? I mean, do I talk about this with him?" there was a pause before Thad nodded.

"Yesss…he needsss…to know." Blaine gave him a small smile and nodded.

"I just- do you think this is just about sex?" Thad's eyebrows, which had shot up his forehead, answered the question perfectly for Blaine. "Okay, okay, I just- it was just a thought." Thad tilted his head, raising his eyebrows, and the expression just screamed 'do-you-_really_-think-he-would-have-chased-you-for-_two_-_years_-if-this-was-about-sex?'. Blaine chuckled, lightly. "Right, but, really, what do I tell the others?" Thad shrugged, his expression saying that he didn't have the faintest clue what to do in a situation like that. Blaine laughed again.

"Alright, well, thanks anyway." Thad shrugged, and Blaine got to his feet, swinging his arm around his friend's shoulder. "You know, for someone who doesn't say a lot, you sure as hell give good advice." Thad smiled at him, and Blaine shook his head, as he half laughed.

* * *

_I wish the others would turn up soon because Keats is avoiding me, his friends keep bursting into hysterics and Trinity __**won't leave me alone**__! They are, possibly, __**the**__ most annoying people I've ever met, and this is someone who spent over a __**year**__ in show choir with Rachel Berry. I still don't get what happened at breakfast, but Trinity __**do**__, and it's driving me insane. Each time I ask them they just giggle and skip. I thought I saw Drew earlier, but it's occurred to me that, apart from sitting with him briefly at meals, I don't really know him…still, I think I'd prefer his company to that of Trinity's…_

"Hey Kurt!" Juri was running down the corridor, several books in his arms, and a smile on his face. Kurt smiled at Juri, and then noticed he was about to run right into a table.

"Juri, your left." Juri stopped, looked to his _right,_ saw nothing, started walking again, and then crashed into the table. The hall winced as one. Trinity bounded over to his side, and Daniel and Michael pulled him to his feet whilst Gabriel collected the scattered books. "Juri." said Kurt in a scolding tone. "do you _know_ left from right?"

"Sorry." he said, grinning sheepishly. "I have trouble seeing zings zat aren't _right_ in front of me." Kurt raised an eyebrow, delicately.

"I'd noticed." he said, dryly, and Trinity just giggled. Juri accepted his books from Gabriel, and set off to his lesson. Kurt turned to the giggling friends. "_What_," he demanded in a very annoyed voice, "is _so_ funny?" they just giggled some more.

"You'll never get a straight answer out of them." Vince had turned up, Parker by his shoulder, and was eyeing the three small boys with a calculating expression.

"I actually think Keats is the only person that _voluntarily_ speaks with them." Kurt could imagine that was true. Then he remembered something.

"Do they have _roommates_?" he asked, sounding horrified at the idea of someone living with them. Vince and Parker nodded in complete sync.

"Chris rooms with Daniel, Drew with Michael and Fred with Gabriel." Kurt's mouth hung open, gaping at the strange boys who were entertaining themselves with piece of paper that had fallen out of one of Juri's books.

"I feel sorry for them, I feel _really_ sorry for them." the other two shrugged.

"They've made through two years." said Vince, casually. "Then again, Chris and Fred are just as mad as them. In fact, it was a pretty dumb idea to put _Fred_ and _Peel_ in the same room." Kurt stared at the two of them.

"_Peel_?" Vince rolled his eyes whilst Parker just shook his head.

"Their names all end in "el" so somebody - not sure who - decided to call them Feel, Heel and Peel after _F_ranklin, _H_arriot and _P_utnam." Kurt rolled his eyes, and nodded in understanding.

"Oh, I see. Does anybody call them by their real name?" there was a pause before they shrugged.

"Mrs Daniels will call them by their surnames, but most of the others just stick with Trinity 'cause it's easier than saying _all_ their names."

_Well, these guys just keep getting weirder and weirder. I'm not sure I could ever go around calling someone "Feel" or anything, though. I might just stick with Trinity. I wonder if they __**like**__ being called by all these different names like they're something really different? I wonder if anyone bothered to ask them before they named them?_

"Ah, Kurt, nice to see you again." Mr Hartfield, and Kurt smiled up at his maths teacher. Mr Hartfield squatted down by his desk, and Kurt knew that he was going to get his work back. "Now, Kurt, this is good, but I'm afraid that you didn't do this yourself, did you?" Kurt froze.

_How the hell does he know I got Vince and Parker to do half of it?_

Mr Hartfield smiled at Kurt, sympathetically, as Kurt fought for words that wouldn't incriminate him, knowing that his silence wasn't helping him in anyway.

"Um…"

"It's okay Kurt, but I've taught Vince since he was Freshman, I know his working out." Kurt looked sheepishly down at the table, heart sinking.

_Oh fuck. What the hell happens now? It's my first day as a proper student, and I'm already getting done for not having completed my homework myself…dad's gonna __**kill**__ me._

"There's need to look so upset, Kurt." Kurt jerked his head upright, and noticed that Mr Hartfield was smiling at him kindly, still, and that he clearly wasn't finished talking. "I know that Dalton gives you _a lot_ of catch-up work when you first join. I remember being completely snowed under." Kurt stared at him, blinking rapidly.

"Huh?" he cringed, internally, at his unintelligent, crude, response, but his mind had chugged to a complete stop; he _wasn't_ being told off. Mr Hartfield gave him another kind smile.

"I'm ex-Dalton." he explained, calmly. "I joined about this time of year, in your year, and the work load was…_immense_. It didn't help that I'd just gotten an academic scholarship, so everyone thought I was a genius…" he shook his head. "It takes getting used to, Kurt, but I set you do that work on your own because I found that's the only way you can properly catch up. It's all very well and good being _told_ what to do, but it works better when you do the work yourself." Kurt swallowed nodding, feeling a little bit calmer.

"So, I'm _not_ in trouble?" Mr Hartfield shook his head.

"No, but Kurt, I want you to redo these exercises _yourself_, okay?" Kurt nodded, and Mr Hartfield removed the stack of papers from his desk. "And I want them in for next lesson." Kurt nodded again, not feeling at all inclined to argue with a teacher who had just let him off the hook for having someone else do his homework.

Mr Hartfield moved away, giving him one last smile, and Kurt breathed out in relief. That had been _way _too close. He had _just _got here. He didn't need to get into trouble for not doing his homework. That was _definitely _not on the agenda. Not that Kurt actually had an agenda, his only plan was get into Warblers and win Regionals and then Nationals. He smiled at the thought. Internally, he decided that that would have to be the last time he got anyone to do his work for him. That was clearly the nicest way to go about that. Imagine if Mrs Daniels realised that Keats had dictated half his assignment to him…oh god, that was a terrifying thought.

He opened the text book, and was about to start working when a piece of paper landed on his desk. He picked it up, frowning. Two more pieces followed, and Kurt rolled his eyes. Looking around, he noticed that Mr Hartfield was talking to Vince - Kurt hoped he wasn't getting told off - and so couldn't see Kurt. With a sigh, Kurt opened the first scrap of paper.

_What do you think of Keats?_

Kurt blinked, completely baffled by the question, and moved to the next one.

_We mean both. _

_Huh, what the hell?_

That made even _less_ sense than the first one. At the first had been an actual question. He opened the last one, hoping that it would shed some light upon the conversation.

_Appearance and personality._

_Oh, well that clears things up..kind of._

Well, that was a bit odd, thought Kurt, glancing back around, before ripping out a page of lined paper. He paused before writing anything, wondering whether it was a good thing to be discussing this _now_. In the end, instead of answering the question, he penned his own.

_Why?_

He twisted around, and threw it at the three boys seated right at the back, before hastily turning back to the exercises as Mr Hartfield eyed the classroom suspiciously.

"Trinity, stop laughing." Kurt was glad of an excuse to look at the three boys, and saw - along with the rest of the class - that they were giggling over their textbooks, but Kurt had a feeling that it was his note that was making them snicker.

"Sorry, sir."

"Deepest apologies."

"Sincerest condolences." Kurt rolled his eyes, and guessed that that was something they said to teachers a lot as he remembered hearing it in Mr Sutherland's class. Mr Hartfield eyed them once more, before turning back to the student that he was helping. Kurt cast one last look at the three boys, before he turned back to his work.

Kurt set down his pen, feeling incredibly impressed with himself because he'd finished an exercise, when three more pieces of paper landed on his desk. Sighing he picked them up and opened them in order.

_You hang out with him._

_More than you do with Blaine._

_And you __**like**__ Blaine. _

Kurt sighed, picking up the sheet of paper he'd hidden underneath his textbook that had the corner ripped out of it. Glancing back around once more, he began to write his response.

_Firstly, I think it's __**really **__creepy that you write in the same order…and I don't see how who I hang out with is any of your business. Is this something to do with this morning? _

He chucked the note back, and began to work again. He could feel eyes on him, and he guessed that either Mr Hartfield had noticed him, or Trinity were staring him. Both possibilities made him uncomfortable, and he set about applying his mind to his work in a productive manner.

"_Trinity_!" Kurt jumped, like most of the class, and looked around at the three boys that were all half out of their seats, eyes raised in the air. "_What_ exactly do you think you're doing?" they looked at each other and sank back into their seats, arms still raised.

"Um…"

"Err…"

"Erm…" Mr Sutherland let out a long suffering sigh.

"Put your arms down, boys, and stop disturbing the class. In case you hadn't noticed you're right at the back so what you're doing isn't the most efficient method of gaining someone's attention." they all nodded and everyone turned back to their work. Kurt had the distinct feeling they'd been trying to attract his attention, but thought that it would probably be wise to pretend that he didn't know that. Three more notes appeared on his desk.

_We need to talk._

_Meet us at lunch._

_Come to Mr Sutherland's classroom._

Kurt sighed, feeling that the tidings were rather ominous, but decided that he might as well go and see what they wanted.

_After all, if they're just really nutty I'll walk away. What I wouldn't give for another peaceful day. That Friday when the Warblers were at Sectionals is still by far the best day I've had…I wonder what that says about my friendship with Blaine and the others. Either way, I'm rooming with Juri and he's their friend, and not talking to Blaine doesn't help with my crush…in fact I'm sure it makes it worse…_

* * *

Blaine was glad when the bell for lunch went. He shot out of his seat, causing Mr Kerr to glare at him, and dashed from the classroom. He'd made up his mind when he ought to have been working, and had decided that he should tell Emily and Cooper about Sebastian. They'd know what to do about dad. Hopefully. This in mind, he set off towards Warbler Hall in the hope it would be empty.

Sure enough, when he opened the door, there was no one else in sight. Blaine shut it firmly behind him, and checked the rooms off it again. Luc was nowhere in sight, thankfully, because Blaine did _not_ want to have him listen in on a conversation with _Cooper_.

He flopped down onto one of the sofas, and took his phone from his pocket, trying to decide who to call first. He was more concerned about telling Cooper, his big brother meant more to him than he ever let on, but Emily was by _far_ easier to talk to, especially about this kind of thing. Maybe Emily could help him with Cooper too? Though they'd not been close, the moment he left and dad got down on him about his life choices, Emily had backed him up, so she might just know something to help him.

Mind made up, he pressed the call button, deciding it would be safer to call her mobile than the home phone because she could be out, and he needed to do it when he had the nerve.

"_Blaine?"_

"Hey, Emily." he heard the surprise in her tone, and found himself smiling.

"_Oh, Blaine it's __**so good**__ to hear from you. I was beginning to think that you'd lost your phone."_ Blaine smiled, wider, happy to hear from someone who was genuinely happy to hear from him.

"Yeah, sorry, life's been a bit hectic."

"_I know, Cooper and Mr Hammonds told us all about Kurt."_ Blaine paused, biting down on his lip nervously.

"How did dad take it?" He heard her make a thoughtful noise over the phone, and took that to be a good thing.

"_He wasn't __**happy**__, but he didn't get angry or anything."_ Blaine sighed in relief, nodding.

"Are you coming to the concert?"

"_Yes, yes we are!"_ and the delighted tone of her voice was enough to bring the smile back to his face. _"Your dad's been grumbling about you not having a solo, but me and the girls and Cooper are coming anyway."_ Blaine sighed in happy relief.

"Cool, and, about the solo, because I didn't throw the audition there's still a good chance I might have one."

"_Oh, well, that's wonderful."_ an awkward silence overtook them both, and Blaine knew that she knew there was something big he wanted to say. _"Is everything okay, Blaine?"_ Blaine sighed, and made a noncommittal movement with his head that she couldn't see. _"Is it K-"_

"No, it's Sebastian." despite the silence, he could _hear_ her frown and confusion.

"_Sebastian? What's happened? Has he hurt you?"_ Blaine shook his head.

"No, um, actually, I asked him out." there was a very long pause after that.

"_**You**__ asked __**him**__ out?"_ she repeated in disbelief, and Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Why does that baffle everyone?" he demanded, and Emily chuckled.

"_Because, after everything you told us, it sounded like he'd be the one doing the asking out."_ Blaine sighed, a smile playing on his lips.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, but, you know, I couldn't wait _forever_." Emily laughed.

"_Well, darling, this is __**wonderful**__, you've only fancied him since you got here, and after everything that-"_ Blaine cut her off, wanting to get to what was troubling him.

"Yeah, I know, but…what do I do about _dad_?" He heard her sigh, thoughtfully, and silence fell over the line. In the end Emily just sighed again.

"_I don't know, dear, he's so- well, we both know how he thinks…your best bet would just be to introduce him, and hope for the best." _Blaine winced, not really liking the idea. _"Also, have you spoken to Cooper?"_ Blaine shook his head. _"Phone line, dear."_ said Emily, and Blaine laughed, remembering that she couldn't see him, but knowing that she knew what his silence had meant.

"No, I was gonna call him after. How do you think he'll take it?"

"_I don't know."_ she said, thoughtfully. _"I think he'll be more concerned about you than he'll let on, and, no doubt, he'll find something to mock you about, but he's not going to get…whatever_._"_ Blaine nodded.

"Right, thanks Emily."

"_It's nothing, dear. Call Cooper, he might have some ides about your father, and I'll see you soon."_ Blaine smiled.

"Yeah, looking forward to it. Love you."

"_Love you too, sweetheart." _Blaine hung up, smiling and glad that he'd called Emily first because it put him in a good mood, and gave him confidence for talking to Cooper. He dialled his brother's number and listened to it ring, stomach growling.

"_Hi this is Cooper Anderson. I'm far too busy to take your call so if it's important leave message, but a short one 'cause I won't listen to whole thing, and dad, if this is you - piss off. Oh, and squirt, try growing up and dealing with your own problems."_ Blaine sighed and rolled his eyes at his brother's voicemail.

"Hey, Coop, I have something I need to tell you. Um, well, I have a boyfriend…it's Sebastian, and _I_ asked him out…anyway, what the hell do I do about dad? See you at the concert." Sighing again, Blaine hung up. He rubbed his hands over his eyes, and stuffed his phone away. Now, he just had to speak to Sebastian. Groaning, and wondering just _how_ crazy Dalton had driven him. Why did he enjoyed spending time with someone who gave him panic attacks, and could close his wind pipe with a smile or casual touch?

* * *

_I have no idea why I'm doing this. For one, I'm not even one hundred per cent sure I know __**how**__ to get to Mr Sutherland's classroom. Dalton is too confusing, I don't care if I've been here a week. Oh, hang on it's that statue thing that creeps me out that's near his classroom, I think. It's the freaky bust of some guy. I wonder who the hell he was, either way he does __**not**__ have a nice face to look out._

"That's the founder of Dalton." Kurt jumped into the air, and spun around to see Luc standing behind him, staring at the statue passively. "You get use to how ugly he is." Kurt nodded, heart still thudding, slightly, and Luc narrowed his eyes. "You look scared. I don't bite, normally…except there was that one-" he broke off, at the wide eyed look of shock he was getting from Kurt. "Forget what I just said." Kurt nodded, dumbly.

"Yeah… yeah I will." Luc frowned at him.

"Apart from the bust, and my appearance out of thin air, is there something wrong?" Kurt shook his head, slowly. Luc just stared at him, and moved closer to the bust. "You know, in my first year me and friends stole this." Kurt gaped at him, and Luc snorted. "Yeah, that was fun. We got into a _ton_ of trouble, obviously, when they found out we had him, but it was totally worth it…" Kurt frowned at him.

"Really?" Luc nodded.

"Yeah, Hammonds went _berserk_." Kurt frowned at him.

"Hammonds was your headmaster, too?" Luc shot him an incredulous look.

"How old do you think I am? I graduated, and then Sebastian and Wes and that year turned up. I went to music college for approximately a week before I got expelled."

"Why?" asked Kurt, completely fascinated. Luc shrugged.

"This and that…and the old music director had resigned…I think that was my fault." Kurt shot him the question "_how_?" with his eyebrows. "He was an idiot, and I pointed it out, a lot. I mean, he made the Warblers about popularity, not talent. He let anybody in, no auditions, you just needed enough peer votes. You know, I could sing on Broadway or in Opera, but I never once got a solo because nobody liked me."

"Why did nobody like you?" Luc shot him another incredulous look.

"Why do you _think_ nobody liked me. I'm not a likeable person, Kurt, and I quite like it that way. In fact there's, I think, _one_ student at Dalton that genuinely _likes_ me, and that's _Thad_ which is not saying much 'cause he's one _heck_ of a weird kid." Luc shook his head. "Anyway, life story over, you're lost." Kurt nodded.

"Where's Mr Sutherland's classroom?"

"Round the corner…ah, _you're_ the poor sod that Trinity are meeting there." Kurt gave him a horrified look.

"What do you mean?" trepidation filling his voice.

"They're bouncing around and _cackling_, like, honest to god, Wicked Witch of the West, cackling. Something you'd know all about." Kurt swallowed, nervously. Luc began to walk off, the sleeves of his ruffled shirt flapping. Kurt stared after him, baffled, before remembering something.

"Um, Mr Lucey!"

"Luc, kid, call me Luc." Kurt allowed himself a small smile.

"Right, um, when's my Warbler audition?" Luc rolled his eyes.

"Don't care. Sort it out with the council." Kurt nodded, and walked off round the corner to see Trinity.

_Well, that was odd. I mean, he was being __**really**__ nice to me. I wonder what he did to get expelled in a __**week**__, that must be some sort of record…I need to talk to the council. That's Wes, David and Thad…I'll talk to David when I get to lunch. I hope we make it soon, I want to perform in this concert of theirs. Maybe I could even do a solo? I could sing-_

"Kurt."

"Elizabeth."

"Hummel." Kurt stared at the three boys who were all standing on the desks, grinning at him. Kurt swallowed, mind spinning a little bit, and feeling _incredibly _nervous because of the looks on their faces.

_How the __**hell**__ do they know my middle name? I haven't told __**anyone**__ at Dalton my middle name. If they've broken into my room I will __**kill**__ them. _

"How," he began in a falsely calm voice. "do you know my middle name?" they looked at each other before shrugging.

"We Googled you."

"It's on Facebook."

"Mercedes Jones' Facebook." Kurt swallowed, feeling a little calmer, but making a mental note to demand that Mercedes removed _that_ piece of information _immediately_.

"Okay, what do you guys want?" They lost their grins for half a second.

"We need to warn you."

"About Keats, Blaine and Sebastian."

"You have to be careful." Kurt stared at them all incredulously.

"What?" he demanded, in unison.

"Just take care."

"Yeah stay out of it."

"In case it kicks off again." Kurt blinked once more.

"Could you be any _more_ mysterious?" there were thoughtful looks on their faces, and Kurt hurriedly added. "Rhetorical. That was rhetorical." They leapt off the tables, landing, catlike, on the floor before straightening up and walking over to Kurt.

"Take care, Kurt."

"We like you."

"You seem nice." They patted him on the shoulder one by one, and walked out of the classroom, leaving a completely confused Kurt standing there, mind spinning.

_Okay, well, I guess now I know that my jealous mind isn't just inventing things…there really __**is**__ something going on between them, and I'm guessing it doesn't really have anything to do with being envious of the Warblers. But, I don't understand how this involves me. I mean, yeah, I'm practically __**in love with**__ Blaine, but he's with Sebastian…so, I don't see how whatever problem they have with each other involves me…heck, I don't even know if Keats is gay. Huh, well, I really hope that was just some cryptic thing for something, anything, else. Betting it wasn't though…_

* * *

_So, despite my mind being completely occupied with whatever is up between Keats, Sebastian and Blaine, I managed to make it to the cafeteria without getting lost once. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself, actually. Take that whoever designed this building! Kurt Hummel can find his way around now_.

"Hey, Kurt." Kurt jumped, and saw that Blaine was standing behind him, smiling. Kurt narrowed his eyes at the grin.

"What?" Blaine frowned at him, but somehow managed to keep smiling.

"Nothing, I'm in a good mood." Kurt raised his eyebrows.

"I can see that."

"You're not in a good mood?" he asked, looking concerned, and Kurt felt his heart flip, and a smile worked it's way onto his face.

"I'm just- I've a couple of _odd_ conversations today." Blaine smiled at him, genially.

"Oh, you'll get use to it, and Kurt I wanted to apologise for-"

"Hey Kurt." Kurt jumped at the sound of Keats' voice, having been so zoned into Blaine's eyes that he'd forgotten the world around him. He saw something darken in those beautiful hazel orbs, as he turned to face the boy on his other side.

"Hi Keats."

"Do you want to come sit with us?" Kurt froze.

"Um…"

"Keaton, I was having a conversation." Kurt blinked. That was, like, the first time he'd ever heard _anyone_ use Keats' first name. Even _Mrs Daniels_ called him Keats.

"Oh, sorry, didn't see you there Blaine, you were hidden behind Kurt." Kurt felt the smile that had been frozen on his face slip.

_Oh god, they were right._

Kurt cleared his throat, and tried to pretend that the atmosphere hadn't just gone from friendly to tense, or that half the cafeteria was staring at them.

"Erm, I'm going to get some salad." Neither boy responded to him, and he slipped round Blaine to the salad bar. The moment he was gone, but not out of ear shot, they began to talk again.

"What's the game with Kurt, Keats?" Keats and Kurt both frowned.

_Okay, so now he __**is**__ calling him Keats. Though I should probably be more focused on the actual question, seeing as it concerned me. _

"What game? There's no game."

"_Don't_ play dumb with me, Keaton. I didn't make people take sides, that was you."

"I don't know _what_ you're talking about."

"Oh really. So the words "you're with him or with me. There's no middle ground" _don't_ ring any bells with you?"

"Nope."

"Oh still smarting from that, are you? The fact that all our _friends_ chose me, with the exception of the entourage. Or the fact that Trinity created their own "_middle ground"_ and most of the year are happily camping there, more inclined to me."

_What the fuck?_

"I really don't know what you're talking about, Blaine, but just remember you started it, this time round."

"Kurt." Kurt looked round to see David hurriedly beckoning him over. Kurt walked towards him, frown firmly implanted on his face.

"What's-"

"Just pretend to Blaine you didn't hear that." he hissed, as Blaine began to walk over.

"But I-"

"Just do it." Kurt swallowed, completely confused.

"Um…David," he began, his voice slightly raised. "Luc told me to talk to you about my audition."

"Oh yes." said David, sitting down at the table, and positioning Kurt so that he was next to him. Blaine sat down, foodless, and tried to look like he hadn't just been glaring at someone.

"Blaine, food." said Flint, looking annoyed.

"I'm not-"

"Here, have some of mine." dirty glares were thrown at Blaine as Nick extended his plate to him.

"No, Nick, it's fine. Take it back before we get murdered." Nick ruefully pulled his plate back towards him, and Flint and Jeff dumped some random bits from their lunch onto the lid of David's Tupperware box. David threw a banana at Blaine who took it gratefully.

"Anyway," said David, turning back to Kurt. "your audition. I think, correct me if I'm wrong Thad, that we could squeeze you in today." The quiet boy nodded a little. "Excellent, the vote won't take long, and then you'll just have to sing twice."

"Do you have another song, though?" asked Flint. "Because you can't really do the same one." Kurt nodded, chewing on a tomato.

"Yeah, I was trying to choose between two songs so I should be okay." Jeff clapped his hands together, enthusiastically.

"Oh good, I'm _really _look forward to hearing you sing." Kurt flushed red, and looked down at his plate slightly bashfully. It still felt a little bit strange for the guys to be giving him compliments.

"Oh, thanks Coop." Blaine had pulled out his phone, and was examining the text message that had been sent.

"He's texting you?" demanded Nick, incredulously.

"I left him a message." said Blaine in a explanatory tone.

"What about?" asked Flint, curiously.

"Oh, about telling dad about Sebastian."

"You're going to tell him?" Flint sounded incredulous, and Blaine shrugged.

"I want him to know, anyway, listen to what Cooper said; _You better go find a nuclear bunker to hide in_." the boys all rolled their eyes, and Kurt was about to ask who Cooper was when Sebastian walked over to their table. He nodded, briefly, in greeting the rest of them before leaning into Blaine.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Blaine nodded, pushing the Tupperware with the left over food back to David, and getting to his feet.

"Yeah, um, in private."

"Like you're not going to tell them all anyway." Blaine rolled his eyes, chuckling. Kurt watched the two of them go, curious and barely noticing the sinking feeling in his chest.

_I wonder what he wants to talk about. I wonder if I should just __**ask**__ about Keats. Keats has been lovely to me. He helped me when I was arguing with Blaine…heck, didn't __**he**__ tell me that Blaine wasn't one to hold grudges…though there was that awkward moment after he said that…oh, great, another person lying to make me feel better. I wonder why I get annoyed whenever people are trying to be nice…I guess I just don't like the way they do it. Trinity seem to think that this involves me, and so far, they seem like they get Keats' side of thing which must have mentioned me…oh, this is __**too**__ much. I want to know, but at the same time I don't because I think I'm starting to get what the others seem to be implying…and I'm not sure I like it…_

* * *

"So, you gonna explain this morning, 'cause I have to admit, totally baffled me." Blaine smiled at him, gaze shooting to the ground, and face colouring.

"I'm sorry, I just- I had a panic attack, sort of."

"Panic attack, oh I'm flattered." Blaine whacked Sebastian's arm.

"Shut up, this _isn't_ funny."

"Please tell me we're not about to have another heart-to-heart because was one was too much for me." Blaine smiled again.

"_No_, and stop talking." Sebastian rolled his eyes, and crossed his arms. "It was just- I was panicking about telling my family." Sebastian nodded.

"I see."

"Emily was, you know, _brilliant_, and Cooper just- he didn't say _anything _about me having a boyfriend, but dad would go ballistic. I mean, _how_ do I tell him?" Sebastian shrugged.

"I don't talk to my parents, Blaine." Blaine.

"No, I know, but I just- when I do, will you be there?" Sebastian shrugged.

"Well, yeah, if I'm around I'll come over, or whatever. Hang on, your dad's coming to the concert." Blaine nodded. "Do it then." Blaine blinked.

"Before the concert?"

"Or after."

"You want me to tell him I have a boyfriend, _before_ the _concert_?" Sebastian rolled his eyes at the hysterical tone to Blaine's voice.

"Blaine-" he snapped his fingers. "-piece of advice, _always_ drop bombshells on homophobic parents in public, it stops them exploding. It's what I did with mum. I mean, I'd already made the mistake of asking dad advice." he rolled his eyes, and mimicked his father's deep voice. "_Why the fuck should I care? I have more important things to do than listen to your whining. Go fuck a man and then woman, and decide who you like better…don't bother me again._" Blaine burst out laughing.

"I still can't over the fact that's what he said!" Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"He's lucky I don't take his advice, I was _thirteen_! Anyway, I came out to mum in the middle of one of her charity galas. If we'd been at home she might have slapped me, but, as it was, it was just; _don't bother me now, Sebastian, I'm very busy being very fake._" Blaine laughed at Sebastian's impersonation of his own mother, and rolled his eyes. "Then it got swept under the proverbial rug, and never discussed again - not that we talk let alone discuss _anything_." Blaine nodded.

"Well, anyway, okay, but still be there." Sebastian nodded.

"Naturally. What else?" Blaine bit his lip.

"Well, it just occurred to me we can't go out on a date."

"So?" said Sebastian, frowning. "We can just hang out in my room. I'll even talk feelings." Blaine laughed, blushing.

"Okay. I just- I feel- now that we're dating isn't everything…you know." Sebastian raised an eyebrow, and Blaine sighed. "Isn't it all _sexual_ now?" Sebastian shrugged.

"Well, yes, it is." Blaine put his hand over his eyes, gripping at his temple.

"I just- I don't- it's so complicated."

"No, I think I get what you're attempting to say…but Blaine, if I just wanted to have sex with you I would have hooked up with you in Freshman year. In fact, that would probably have led you to a world record in emotional scarring." Blaine snorted, removing his hand. "Yes I want to kiss you, and _yes_, I want to have sex with you, but doesn't mean I _will_ because you're not ready, and I'm not gonna do that to you." Blaine smiled at him.

"Thank you." Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"It would be counterproductive, and a complete waste of time." there was a pause. "You want me to comfort-hug you, don't you?" Blaine nodded.

"You have to, Thad did." Sebastian raised an eyebrow, suggesting that he thought Blaine was lying, but beckoned him into his arms anyway. Blaine wrapped his arms around his waist and breathed out.

"If we get detention for "_excessive PDA_" from Mrs Daniels, I will _kill_ you." muttered Sebastian, and Blaine just laughed into his chest, his pounding heart slowly calming down and the cloud of panic in his chest evaporating.

* * *

_I don't know how I made it through Social Studies with Trinity behind me. They were muttering, and kept telling me to "walk away" and "take care" and "be very careful". Nick and Flint looked pretty tense, so I guess that they know what's going on. I tried to ask them, but they both just shook their heads and pretended to be working - they seem to have forgotten they kept asking me for obscure words for their game of hangman - so I let it drop. Maybe they're hinting that I should be talking to someone else, I'm not sure. Either way, I went with them after lessons to Warblers. They voted for my audition, so now I'm waiting to sing before Luc and the council. Then I sing to the group again. I'm not that nervous, though, because, well, 'Defying Gravity' was fine. I know I'm going to pull this off._

"Kurt Hummel." Kurt looked up and saw Wes, a grave look upon his face that Kurt presumed was something he just had to do as a councillor. Kurt, clutching the CD in his hand, stepped through into the small room. David and Thad sat at either end of a table, an empty chair between them. Luc sat at another table, the CD player by his right elbow. Kurt walked over, confidence in every step, and inserted it, skipping to the right track.

"Announce the song." muttered Luc under his breath, and Kurt turned to the council, stepping out into the centre of the room. He took a deep breath, steadying the nerves that were forced to appear when faced by three solemn faced peers.

"I will be singing _Don't Cry for Me, Argentina_ from _Evita_." Wes wrote that down, and David glanced at Thad who gave him an almost imperceptible nod. It unsettled him, a little, but, when Wes looked back up and motioned with his right hand, Kurt turned to Luc with a confident air. Luc pressed play. Kurt turned back to the council, counting inside his head so that he came in at the right moment.

_It won't be easy_

_You'll think it strange_

_When I try to explain how I feel_

Kurt definitely preferred the start this time, and he imagined that he was singing to the New Directions and the people that he'd left in Lima. He imagined standing in their choir room with everyone sitting on the red chairs, looking down on him with different expressions. Some of them would be bored, Rachel would probably be annoyed that _she_ wasn't singing, and - when he was finished - Santana would probably make some insulting comment about how he sounded like a girl.

_That I still need your love_

_After all that I've done_

_You won't believe me_

_All you will see_

_Is a girl you once knew_

_Although she's dressed up to the nines_

_At sixes and sevens with you_

He sung to them because he'd barely seen them in over a week. He'd barely been in touch, and he missed them. It was like a dull ache within him, and he resolved, as he sung, that he would be in touch with Finn and Mercedes tonight, regardless of the amount of work he had to do. He was all dressed up in uniform, thankfully they were _his _clothes now, and he felt so _different_ to how he felt when he was at McKinley. He was also competing with them, and, after Jesse St James and Vocal Adrenaline, that idea made him just a little bit wary.

_So I chose freedom_

_Running around trying everything new_

_But nothing impressed me at all_

_I never expected it too_

Wes and David looked impressed, and out of the corner he saw that Luc was sitting back, just enjoying the song. Thad, though, was genuinely smiling, and Kurt began to wonder whether he was the one that knew about musicals. Whether he was really being judged by the quiet Warbler as opposed to the teacher and the other two councillors.

_Don't cry for me Argentina_

_The truth is I never left you_

_All through my wild days_

_My mad existence_

_I kept my promise_

_Don't keep your distance_

His voice grew in confidence, and he half wished that the others were recording it so that he could show it to the New Directions. This was his homage to them for loving him, and accepting him, and giving a place to feel safe in a high school full of bullies. He saw Wes and David glance at Thad, who smiled wider, and nodded at them. The action convinced him that his performance was mainly being judged by Thad, and not the other two.

He closed his eyes, and let the music take over him. He wasn't sure whether this was what they wanted from him, but he found himself not caring. He didn't care if he fitted into Dalton's mould because _he_ was singing, and no one could tell him how to sing or what he was meant to be feeling or thinking of whilst he was singing.

_Don't cry for me Argentina_

_The truth is I never left you_

_All through my wild days_

_M__y mad existence_

_I kept my promise_

_Don't keep your distance_

He sang in front of the gathered Warblers, all seated in sofas, or armchairs, or perched on the edge of tables or sofa arms. They all looked impressed by his voice, and Blaine was smiling up at him. Sebastian was leaning back, a small frown on his face, and Kurt wondered whether he had him worried about his spot as lead.

_Have I said to much?_

_There's nothing more I can think of to say to you_

_But all you have to doIs look at me to know_

_That every word is true_

He smiled to them, himself, and the New Directions when he finished. He took a deep breath, colour highlighting his cheeks, and glancing once at the floor as they burst into applause. He unclasped his hands from where they'd been hidden behind his back. All the Warblers were nodding at each other and grinning excitedly.

"All in favour of welcoming Kurt Hummel to the Warblers?" there was not a single hand that didn't go up, and Kurt felt something inside of him swell as the Warblers budged up to give him a seat, and Wes began to talk about the Autumn concert. Blaine reached over, touching his arm.

"You're amazing." he whispered, and Kurt flushed bright pink as Wes brandished his gavel - Kurt was slightly alarmed by this gesture, and little bemused by the fact they had a gavel - and launched into a rant about talking over the council. Kurt began to laugh under his breath with the other Warblers as Blaine and Wes turned redder and redder.

_I did it! I'm a Warbler! I'm going to Regionals! I'm so excited, and, what's more - no matter what the others said to me earlier - it's nice to be a part of a club that's cool. Also, we get to perform __**way**__ more than the New Directions did. This is going to be awesome, I know it. Even if I have to put up with Wes banging the gavel and ranting. _

* * *

**Next Time- Wearing Out: Kurt learns about the school's sports policy, Blaine attempts to convert Sebastian to the ways of a hopeless romantic, and things with Keats continue to escalate, dragging Kurt further down into the realms of confusion…**


	9. Wearing Out

**_Dear Readers,_**

**_Firstly, I would like to thank you for your continued support of my story, whether by reading, following, or reviewing. I grately appreciate it, and it's always nice to know that something you spend time on is being appreciated. _**

**_Secondly, I would like to reply to a review posted by Lilu on whether it's a klaine or seblaine fic. I'm afraid that I'm not really going to tell you because I'm not really writing the story in that way. Yes, I'm writing about Sebasitan and Blaine as a couple, but the story isn't about their relationship, exactly... I don't really want to get bogged down in the whole "pairings" thing because it's not something that I give lots of thought to, it just comes with the story. Also, I don't want anyone to be reading this and thinking that they know who's going to end up with who at the end because I like to think that I have some suprises up me sleeve for the all of you. You can call it what you want, but I'm not writing with a ship in mind, I'm writing this because I want to write a story about Kurt's life at Dalton and all the different people he meets there and all of their lives together. _**

**_Okay, that was probably a pretty unsatisfactory answer to the question, you have my apologies for that, but that's really the best answer I feel like I can give... Please enjoy this next chapter! _**

**_Sopphires._**

* * *

**The Scholarship**

**Episode 9: Wearing Out**

_Dalton's a mad school. Last night, after Warblers and I got introduced properly to Wes' gavel - called __**Gavella**__ (no I am not joking) - by having it thrown at my head, I returned to Franklin with Blaine, Sebastian, Thad and some other Warblers to find that Trinity - Daniel in particular - had convinced __**Juri**__ to go on a skateboard. He'd wobbled down the hallway and crashed straight into Chris. They both toppled down the stairs and successfully destroyed his new painting - which he'd spent __**weeks**__ on. Neither of them were hurt because they grabbed brooms, which were just lying around, and began chasing Trinity around whacking them. It soon became a huge game of "attack-the-rest-of-the-school-with-a-broom", and I had to retreat to my room because I didn't have a broom, although everyone else did. It lasted for hours, and all the other boarding students got involved. In the end nearly everyone broke curfew because Mrs Daniels came to do lock down, and everyone scattered. The only problem was we had the wrong people in each house, so we had to bust them out - somehow you can't open the door from in the inside after curfew - and, after Fred had blown up Putnam's front door, we all went to asleep. I'm still not sure how none got hurt, or in trouble, but everyone acted like they did this everyday. It's insane, I'll need to get a broom just in case. _

"Kurt." Kurt froze from where he'd been about to walk past the kitchen to go to breakfast with Parker because it was early and he wasn't in the mood for anymore arguments. He turned to see Sebastian seemingly glaring at him until he heard Parker mutter something about going ahead. Kurt intensified his glare at Sebastian, and marched into the kitchen.

"What?" he demanded, rudely, because he wasn't in the mood to speak to Sebastian, and he wanted to talk to Keats because he felt Keats would be more honest with him.

"Good morning to you too." Kurt continued to glare at him, wishing he had something flammable so he set his oily, smarmy, face on fire.

"Why did you make Parker leave?" Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"Don't be fooled by any of them, they pull the innocent act well, but they're clever, and very self-preserving." he shook his head. "Anyway, I want to speak to you about choices _you_ have to make." Kurt frowned, and Sebastian handed him a plastic wallet filled with papers.

"What's this?" he demanded, rifling through it briefly.

"Your sports choice." Kurt's mouth fell open.

"_Sports choice_."

"Yes, well done, Polly." Sebastian smirked at him, and Kurt glared back.

"Why do I need to do an extra curricular sport?"

"Because, right now, you're not doing _any_, and that's not allowed. Don't look so offended, it's not personal, everyone in Dalton and Crawford does it." Kurt huffed and glared at Sebastian as if he'd made up the rule. Sebastian smirked some more. "Oh, yes, that's right shoot the messenger. Look, Kurt, this is _simple_. It's arranged into columns which shows when they practise and what clashes with what. The things in italics are clubs like Warblers, Chess, or whatever. The things in bold like dance, cheerleading and synchronised swimming are activities that are shared between Dalton and Crawford, which is why there's a sowing club on there." Kurt blinked.

"You have a _swimming pool_?" he asked, not having seen one. Sebastian shook his head,

"_Crawford _have a swimming pool." Kurt nodded. "Synchronised swimming is surprisingly popular, actually, but that has more to do with raging hormones than anything else." Kurt looked up at his head boy with a raised eyebrow, and Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Fit boys in trunks…I did it for a term when I first joined, but then I got addicted to Lacrosse." Kurt nodded, flipping to other pages and seeing that there was just a longer list of activities, and several consent forms.

"Why do you have _three_ Football teams?" he asked, eventually, and Sebastian looked over at the list.

"Oh, yeah, the clubs marked with a "_C_" are ones that compete, and the other two are just "_fun clubs_", or whatever." Kurt nodded, again.

"When do I have to hand this in by?" Sebastian frowned.

"Friday."

"It's _Thursday_." Sebastian shrugged.

"I only got it yesterday, and the audition and broom fight distracted me." Kurt nodded. "Do you have your own broom?" asked Sebastian suddenly, and Kurt shook his head. "Next time, shout, I have one spare, and I'm not allowed out so you might as well take part." Kurt frowned at him.

"_You_ take part in that _that_ kind of thing?" Sebastian shrugged.

"Yeah, everyone does, it's a Dalton tradition." Kurt nodded, and tucked the sheaf of papers away.

"Okay, well, who do I give it to?"

"Oh, me, or Professor Lloyd, or Mrs Daniels, though I advice against the last because she's the one breathing down my neck to get it in for tomorrow because she wants you to start next week." Kurt felt his heart sink.

"Okay, well, thank you, I guess." Sebastian gave him a nod before freezing as Kurt walked out. He opened his mouth to say something before clamping it shut.

_Stupid sports. Why the __**hell**__ do I have to take part in sport, __**and**__ I didn't get in touch with the others last night…stupid broom fight. Stupid Sebastian. What is his problem? One moment he's making jibes at me, and the next he's offering me his spare broom to use in a fight. I don't understand this-_

"_Jesus Parker_!" Kurt, who had been so busy fuming and thinking angry thoughts about Sebastian, hadn't noticed the Junior who was standing on the lawn, waiting for him. In the end, Kurt was only alerted to his presence when he walked straight into him. Parker grinned at him.

"Sorry."

"Next time, just call my name, or something," Parker frowned at him.

"What's wrong?" Kurt just shrugged, and stormed the final distance to the main building, Parker hurrying at his heels.

"You didn't have to wait for me." he snapped, Sebastian and sport having put him in an utterly foul mood. "I am capable of getting to breakfast on my own."

"I know, but we're friends so I thought that-"

"What happened between you and Blaine and his friends?"

"_What_?"

"Something _big_ happened, what was it? I know you were involved, Sebastian told me so." Parker snorted.

"You're going to trust Sebastian, someone you don't even _like_."

"What about Trinity?" Parker fell silent, but Kurt could have sworn that he heard the boy swear, lightly, under his breath. Kurt smirked to himself, satisfied that he would get answers, and marched to the serving bar. Parker hurried after him, but Kurt jerked his tray out of the way before he could have any food he didn't want dumped onto it.

He slammed his tray down onto the table. The other four boys jumped, and looked up at him in surprise. They all looked at Parker, who looked marginally stressed and just shrugged, before looking back at him. There was a long, awkward, pause in which Kurt ate and the others stared at Keats, waiting for him to talk to Kurt, or Kurt to speak to him. Eventually, Keats didn't seem able to take it any more.

"Kurt, what's wrong?" Kurt looked right into his grey; calm but filled with worry and concern. Keats' soft hand reached across the table and laid itself across the hand that Kurt didn't have clenched around a spoon.

The effect was instantaneous. Kurt felt soft waves of calm roll over him. The tension just vanished, as Keats gently took his hand in his own, raising it off the table, slightly. Kurt took a deep breath, fighting the lump that was forming in his throat. He didn't know what was wrong with him, but Keats was making him feel better, and _that_ was confusing. He took a deep breath, trying to get a hold of himself. He glanced down at his hand that was cupped in Keats'.

"Keats…" he began, loosing his nerve. He took a deep breath. "Keats…you said you wrote the website and the magazine."

_Whoa, what? That wasn't meant to come out._

Keats blinked at him, clearly as confused as Kurt was by the question.

"Yes, yes I do." Kurt glanced down at his hand.

"I think…why did you…that stuff on the page about bullying…" he trailed off, and Keats' mouth fell open in horror.

"Oh." Kurt nodded, looking up at him. Keats swallowed, looking at the table and squeezing his hand a little. "Kurt, I am _so_ sorry."

"Just, why didn't you think of that?" Keats shrugged.

"I just wrote what- it's hard, Kurt, but I just wrote what I wished someone had told _me_. I just wrote how you're _not_ _wrong_, you know? I didn't mean to give whatever message I gave you, and I _certainly_ never meant to endanger your life…I just- it was more about people knowing that there was nothing wrong with _them_. That it was the homophobes that are wrong." Kurt sighed, nodding.

"I guess, I already knew that."

"A lot of people don't." Kurt nodded.

"I know, I know." there was a moment of quiet. "So, _you're_ gay, right?" Keats smiled and nodded.

"Yes, I am…" he trailed off, looking a little sad, but then raised his grey eyes back to Kurt's. "I am _so sorry_. I should have mentioned it, I guess, but…" he shrugged. "I wasn't really sure _how_ I was meant to go about broaching that kind of topic." Kurt swallowed.

"What- what's going on, Keats?" he asked, carefully. "Because…I heard your conversation with Blaine, yesterday-" Keats looked a little horrified. "-and Trinity spoke to me. They told me to be careful, like _I_ was involved, somehow." Keats frowned, looking down at their joined hands.

"I don't think…you're not- you _shouldn't_ be involved, Kurt. I don't think either Blaine or I _want_ you involved." he shrugged. "If you stay our friend, then _maybe_…it's not _personal_." his eyes were honest, and sincere, but Kurt didn't buy it. It didn't add up for him.

"Did you really make people pick sides?" Keats sighed, looking down.

"Blaine has always been a bit of a dramatist. I didn't say what he said I did…" he ran his free hand over his eyes. "I may have _insinuated_ it…and I think people wanted to, certainly those closer to us." Kurt blinked.

"Why?"

"Have you ever had two of your best friends row, Kurt? It's _awkward_ and _difficult_ to be friends with both of them." Kurt couldn't honestly say that he'd been in _exactly_ that kind of situation, but he guessed that he could equate it when the Glee club argued.

"Okay…why did people choose Blaine?" Keats shrugged.

"He was easier to sympathise with, did you hear what kind of a state he was in when he came?" Kurt nodded. "People felt sorry for him. It was like 'poor little Blaine had walked into something he didn't understand, it's not _his_ fault'…" Keats sounded rather bitter for a second, and Kurt swallowed.

"You're not…you're not going to ask _me_ to choose, are you?" there was a very pregnant pause.

"No, Kurt, I like you _very _much…and I don't want you to put you in a position that makes you feel uncomfortable." Kurt nodded, and extracted his hand from underneath Keats'.

"Thank you." he said, quietly, and Keats raised an eyebrow.

"For what?" Kurt shrugged.

"Being honest with me, I guess." he smiled, picking up his empty bowl, and walking to where he needed to stack his tray.

_I guess I half got answers from them. I'm not sure if they were…__**all inclusive**__, but that's certainly more than the others seemed prepared to give. I wonder if Blaine did something wrong…they seem less willing to proffer information…I find it hard to believe, but he has a temper, quite a bad one too. This is too complicated. Really __**too**__ complicated. Then again, who said High School was ever simple?_

Vince snorted out loud the moment that he'd left earshot. Andy turned to Keats with a raised eyebrow, and Stuart's wide eyes had somehow got bigger. Parker looked very calm.

"Seriously?" demanded Andy. "_Seriously_?"

"Poor sucker." muttered Stuart, and Keats glared at him.

"You won't tell." it was meant to be a command, but it came out sounding marginally desperate. The boys all rolled their eyes.

"Of course we won't tell." said Vince, indignantly. "But you need to be careful, Trinity seem to be more on _his_ side than anyone else's, if you screw with him…" Keats rolled his eyes, as he watch Kurt talk to a Freshman who had come up to him by the bins.

"He's right." said Parker softly. "You really can't afford to loose Trinity." Keats rolled his eyes again.

"I won't. They like peace and harmony too much to ditch me."

"I still don't think this'll work." said Vince in a dark undertone as the boy gave Kurt a high five, and they laughed together. Keats glared at him, and then at the boy.

"Who _is_ that?" Vince rolled his eyes this time.

"Dude, he's in _our_ house. That's Tyler, you know, the one who played Gavroche." Keats rolled his eyes.

"How do you know that? Didn't you sleep through it?" Vince shrugged whilst the others' snorted.

"Doesn't mean I can't remember who played who."

"You're not going to- there's no way you're letting this go, right?" Keats' grey eyes glared at Stuart, causing the Putnam boy to push the glasses a little bit further up his nose, as he often did when he was nervous.

"I'm not- I'm _not_ in the wrong!" there were sighs.

"Just don't get worked up." advised Andy, evenly. "We don't need _anymore_ rows between the three of you…your tempers are awful." the others nodded, a smothering silence descending upon the table.

"I'm- I am…I'm _trying_, okay? But it's not my fault that they're _flaunting _it in front of my face! They're _trying_ to get me angry so that they can play the victim card!" the others simply rolled their eyes, having heard the tirade too often to care about what he said.

"You should keep talking to him about the whole…_thing_." said Andy, suddenly. The others looked at him in surprise. Andy shrugged. "If he thinks that they're lying it'll draw him closer to you…he'll think that _they_ did something wrong, and that they're covering for it…probably." Keats blinked.

"Andy, that's _brilliant_!" Andy shrugged.

"I have my moments." a sad expression washed over his features.

"Aww, you still miss him." Andy glared at Vince, and kicked Stuart - who was sniggering - under the table.

"Shut up!"

* * *

_It's still a bit disconcerting when people I don't know come up and talk to me, but it's certainly not unwelcome. Tyler's nice, and, despite finding him annoying in the play, I enjoyed his company. He took my mind of the others because I knew I couldn't ask him. We ended up talking about how it felt to be new in Dalton…he said most of the people he met had friends there, or siblings or their fathers were alumni, so they knew all about __**everything**__ and that it drove him __**barmy**__. Now that's __**definitely**__ something I can empathise with. _

"Hey, Juri." Kurt leant across to his friend's desk as they carefully read through the essays that Professor Lloyd had handed back to them. The Russian boy nodded his dark head once to show that he'd heard him. "What sport do you do?" Juri blinked, glanced at Professor Lloyd, and then inclined himself towards Kurt.

"I svim." Kurt's eyebrows shot upwards.

"You _swim_? Juri, is it even _legal_ to let someone as clumsy as you in a swimming pool?" Juri stared at him, plainly confused by his second question. Kurt shook his head. "Ignore what I just said, but _seriously_, you swim?" Juri stopped frowning all of a sudden,

"I am not clumsy." he muttered, and Kurt raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "I am not!" he raised his voice, slightly, and a couple of people looked around curiously. Kurt quickly shushed him.

"Keep quiet." he hissed. "What do you mean you're "_not clumsy_", you fall over everything." Juri sighed.

"I do not pay attention stuff zere." he gestured with hands around him, and Kurt sent him a confused look. Juri sighed, heavily. "I only pay attention to straight ahead. I am good at svimming." Kurt stared at him for a second, before clocking it. Juri had, like, _actual_ tunnel vision. He only paid to attention to what he could directly see before him, which explained why he tripped over things - he hadn't noticed they were there.

"Oh." muttered Kurt. "I see." Juri snorted, slightly, and Kurt smiled slightly. "Is that, like, an eye problem?" Juri shook his head.

"I lack attention." Kurt nodded.

"Why did you get on the skateboard last night?" Juri paused.

"It vas a dare. I am sorry to have damaged Chris' picture." Kurt gave him another smile, seeing the sadness in his electric blue eyes.

It was odd, but Kurt found himself comparing the eyes of the different people he'd met. Keats' were calming and _soft_ whilst Juri's were piercing and intent. Sebastian's were indifferent whilst Blaine's were warm. Trinity's eyes sparkled, but also, like Thad's, there was something guarded about them. They didn't show emotion, but Thad's were dull whilst Trinity's were bright. Nick and Jeff's were always ready to laugh whilst Flint's were tired and heavy, and David's…David had honest eyes. Kurt could look into them and feel trust.

Of his friends he found that Keats' and Blaine's fascinated him the most. Blaine had hazel eyes that were always _open_. They showed _into_ him. They could be dark and, frankly, scary, but, at the same time, they could be warm and loving. Kurt loved looking into them, not because they made him feel safe - though they could do that - but because they were _captivating_. They held his attention, unlike Keats' which _demanded_ his attention. The grey eyes were so…so…it was hard for Kurt to put it into word. They were calming, and his gaze, alone, could soothe Kurt. He found it surprising the way they did that, actually, because it was…it _wasn't _what he got from Blaine, but it was…_nice_.

He groaned to himself, and Juri looked at him, an eyebrow raised. His eyes locked with Kurt's, and Kurt gave him a forced smile. Juri smiled back.

"Sport is not so bad." he assured in an undertone. Kurt grinned at him, pretending that that was what he had been thinking about.

"Thanks, but I _don't_ think I'll be taking swimming." Juri shrugged.

"Vat did you do at your old-"

"Juri, Kurt have quite finished?" the two boys winced as they realised that the rest of the class was facing front, waiting for Professor Lloyd to start talking.

"Sorry, Professor." they said, grimacing at one another.

_I wonder how Keats got my attention like that because I am __**really**__ not liking the amount of time I spend thinking about him. It's beginning to rival the amount spent on Blaine…I wonder whether all this stuff is getting to me. Maybe I should just…maybe I just need to forget it. Nothing's happening, per se, so Trinity could just be overreacting. I think, in the end, I'd rather focus on my school work than on some feud that doesn't really involve me. I could just…I don't know, it's hard to hang around with them both…I'll have to come up with a system…oh great, I'll have to talk to Trinity again…_

* * *

_I have successfully made it through the morning without any unnecessary tension. I swear, though, that people are going out of their way to try and create some. Vince came up to me, part way through a conversation I was having with Nick, and just started talking to me about Maths! I had __**no idea**__ what he was talking about for a second, until I realised he was saying that he was __**never**__ helping me again. He left the two of us in stunned silence, but I'm pretty sure that Nick glared at him, though he must have stopped when he saw me looking at him…wonder what they don't want me to know._

"Hey Kurt!" Kurt looked round and saw Drew walking over to him. The boy, whose sandy hair was completely messed up, and bore a split lip and some bandaged fingers, grinned at him as he joined him in the queue.

"Err, hey Drew." Drew smiled at him as Stacey, Kurt recognised her now, tutted a the state of his face, and helped dish out some chicken soup for him. Drew smiled at Kurt as they moved down the line.

"Could you grab some bread? I'm trying to rest the fingers." Kurt nodded, picking up a roll for him.

"Here."

"Thanks." Kurt fell into a mildly confused, and awkward silence as Kurt selected an apple for desert and then snatched up the banana for Drew.

_Okay, why the hell is he talking to me? I mean, we're not __**not**__ friends, but at the same time…I don't know… this just seems weird. _

"Sorry to surprise you." said Drew as they sat down at a table that was currently unoccupied because the others - Nick, Flint, Jeff, David and Thad - were being yelled at by Mrs Daniels, Juri had gone to a practise room and the rumour was that Chris was hiding in the art room until he'd redone his picture. "I think Fred's in medical, _again_…and Sebastian asked me to talk to you." Kurt blinked at that.

"Pardon?" Drew nodded, blowing on the soup before carefully putting it in his mouth, hissing as it touched the tender pat of his lip.

"Yeah," he said once he'd swallowed. "he said that you were unhappy about the whole sport thing." Kurt couldn't argue with that. "He just wondered if I - because I'm really big on the sports, it's like music is to Juri-" Kurt nodded again. "-could help you pick something to do."

"Oh." said Kurt. "Did Sebastian _really_ say that?" Drew nodded, tearing at the roll in a rather uncivilised manner.

"Yeah, totally shocked me too. We all reckon it's Blaine, he's making him nice." Kurt nodded, looking down, and wondering where Blaine was. "Sorry," said Drew, wincing. "shouldn't mention that, forgot." Kurt looked up at him, frowning. Drew rolled his eyes. "Everyone knows you like Blaine, except Blaine himself of course…Nick suggested we not mention Blaine and Sebastian's relationship around you because, well, it might upset you." Kurt was shocked into silence, again, by this thoughtful suggestion.

"Oh, well, thanks, but it's kind of hard to _not_ hear about it." Drew nodded, sympathetically.

"Anyway, sports." Kurt groaned, and Drew just grinned, mischievously, at him. "I know, that was my reaction to the idea of seeing the musical; that concussion was definitely one of the most useful I've had in my life…and I've had a lot of _very_ useful concussions." Kurt frowned at him. "I didn't have to see the matinee because I didn't know where I was." he laughed to himself, and Kurt just looked scandalised. "It's nothing, I just took a foot to the head in football." Kurt frowned at him.

"Why weren't you wearing a helmet?" Drew stared at him, before smiling.

"Oh, right, yeah, I mean _soccer_, but it's really called football and most of us call it that." Kurt nodded.

"How did that happen?" Drew stared at him blankly. "The foot to the head."

"Oh," he said, nodding in understanding. "well, I don't really remember, but from what I've heard I mistimed my tackle _completely_, they jumped, and well, you can imagine the rest." Kurt winced.

"Ouch," he said wrinkling his face at the thought of the pain and shook his head, brandishing his middle finger at the sandy haired boy. "_that_ is why I don't do sport." Drew just continued to grin at him.

"Come on, you must have done some kind of sport?" Kurt groaned, thinking about his brief stint on the football team, or, worse, his cheerio days and the hell that Coach Sylvester had put him through.

"Well…I was the kicker on the Football team at one point." Drew raised his eyebrows, eyed him up and down, and then nodded.

"Yeah, I can see that. Unfortunately, the kicker spots are taken…what else?" Kurt groaned, getting the feeling that Drew could _tell_ he'd been on another team.

"I was a cheerleader." Drew looked like he might spit out his water. Kurt glared at him. "Hey, _don't_ laugh. I won Nationals…by singing a fourteen and a half minute Celine Dion medley, in French." Drew couldn't help it. He spat out his drink across the table, and burst into laughter. Kurt turned red, as people looked there way, and Hammonds gave him a satisfied nod. Kurt blinked, mildly taken aback by the gestured - surprised that he wasn't getting told off - but realised the teacher was just glad he was making friends. Kurt tried to glare at Drew, who was still guffawing, but found himself giggling too.

"I'm sorry!" exclaimed Drew when he'd recovered. "But, I just- I can _really_ see you as that. I can so see you as-" he broke off and began to laugh again. "You should become a cheerleader!" Kurt glared at him.

"No _way_. I only joined the cheerleaders to sing." Drew raised an eyebrow.

"Well, that's a logical choice." Kurt waved it away, the back story being far too long and complicated to bother explaining, and he got the feeling Drew didn't care either way.

"That's not the point. The point is I went to cheerleading _Hell_." he shuddered. "Never again." Drew grinned at him, and Kurt rolled his eyes. "I should have kept my mouth shut."

"I would've guessed eventually." assured the bigger boy. "Anyway, this is the _perfect_ opportunity to overcome your irrational fear of cheerleading." Kurt glared at him.

"I don't have an irrational fear of- oh, never mind!"

"You know, I think she'll like singing cheerleaders…that'd be _so cool_! You can perform at our matches! Yes, this is _perfect_! Elise - she played Cosette - is head cheerleader, you'd be awesome together." Kurt paused, the idea looking quite tempting now. The offer of solos was something of a weakness for Kurt, as it was for any diva, and he'd seen that Elise was a good singer. He sighed.

"Alright, but I _know_ I'll regret this." Drew just grinned at him.

"I'll take you to their practise after school today."

"_Today_!" exploded Kurt. Drew shrugged.

"No time like the present…Coach Met would _love_ to have a male cheerleader. She's been driving Cunningham _mad_ about the whole thing. There was a point in which we all thought that she was going to blackmail him into giving her the strongest players on the Football team." Kurt blinked.

"_Blackmail_?" Drew nodded.

"Yeah, 'cause he's having the affair…" Kurt "ohhed" in understanding, and Drew continued to wince and eat. Kurt bit into his apple.

"You know," he said, conversationally, "when I came here I assumed there'd be _less_ drama than at McKinley, but the longer I stay here the more convoluted everything seems to get." Drew snorted at that.

"That's probably an apt description of Dalton. It's a very simple sounding school, but _hell_ is it crazy and complicated."

_I really enjoyed lunch with Drew. Trinity came to torment us later, but we just had a laugh as I explained all the torture that Coach Sylvester put me through, and what I did as a cheerleader. I figure that, though everything gets more complicated, the longer I stay, the more confident I feel. I have to admit, though, I'm __**really**__ confused by Sebastian. Just this one day he's been all…__**prickly**__ and scathing, but at the same time he's sending someone to talk to me because I'm confused…it's like he's trying to help me whilst staying as far away from me as possible. Hang on, what did Drew say; everybody knows, except Blaine…oh god, I __**really**__ hope that everybody doesn't include Sebastian…ah, that's awkward, and not good…really not good._

* * *

"Blaine, why can't we eat in the cafeteria?" Blaine looked at his boyfriend - he didn't think he was going get tired of hearing, saying, or thinking _that_ soon - with an annoyed expression.

"I made us lunch."

"Oh god!" exclaimed Sebastian. "I thought you couldn't cook." Blaine rolled his eyes.

"_You_ can't cook, _I_ just can't be unsupervised."

"You got someone to supervise you?" he asked, looking increasingly apprehensive, and just a little shocked. Blaine rolled his eyes again.

"Yes, Thad was very obliging." Sebastian groaned, loudly, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

"Oh great, _Thad_ was your chaperone. I do _not_ feel good about the situation." Blaine turned around and glared at Sebastian, who just raised his eyebrows at him. "You know, whilst it's _good_ that you're not fleeing my presence, I think I preferred you when you were insecure, you were a _lot_ less work." Blaine put his hands on his hips.

"I'm beginning to understand why you don't do long term." he said, in an exasperated tone of voice. "I am about to teach you about Romance." Sebastian's hand flew up to cover his face, an even longer, louder, groan escaping his lips

"Kill me now." he begged to his palm. "_Please_, Lord, strike me down where I stand." Blaine kicked his shin, and Sebastian yelped. "Blaine, that hurts!"

"Well, you were hurting my feelings." Sebastian sighed, and walked into Franklin.

"Look, Blaine, I really want us to work, but I don't _do_ romance…I'm not sure what I do do, but it's _not_ romance." Blaine turned to look at him imploringly.

"Oh, _please_, Bastian, didn't you say you were trying, _for me_!" Sebastian groaned as Blaine towed him up into his own bedroom which had been decorated with flowers and drapes and had a picnic laid in the middle, though he didn't take it in as he was too busy ranting;

"That is _the last_ time I'm ever honest about how I feel. If I'd known how much people would use it against me…" he trailed off and shook his head. "I love you, Blaine, but seriously…I'm being _tortured_." Blaine had frozen, though, and dropped Sebastian's hand.

"You love me?" he questioned, and Sebastian just stared at him, clearly thinking that _that_ wasn't the most important part of the sentence.

"Erm, yeah, that's what I just said." Blaine sighed.

"Do you mean it in the way that Nick and Jeff mean it when Thad gives them chocolate, or in the way Wes means it when he says it to Jenny?" Sebastian frowned at him.

"I mean _I love you_ in a non-brotherly-platonic-friendy way…is that what you're asking for?" Blaine sighed at the confused, and a little frustrated, tone to Sebastian's voice.

"Yes, I think so…but, we've just got together, isn't it a bit soon to be saying that?" Sebastian frowned at him.

"Blaine, we've liked each other for _two years_…I don't think our relationship is new." Blaine stared at him, features frozen in a horrified manner.

"What are you saying?"

"That I _don't understand_ why our relationship has to change! We _were_ _dating_, Blaine, come on we _were_. We just didn't call each other "boyfriend" that's, like, the only difference." Blaine looked at him, confused and sad. Sebastian threw the flowers off his bed, and sat down, looking quietly angry.

"I'm sorry." muttered Blaine, quietly. "I guess…" he sighed, tears in his eyes. "I guess I just watch too many romantic movies." he closed his eyes, looking quietly sad, and Sebastian sighed, loudly.

"Okay, no." Blaine looked up at him, confused. "You don't have to be sorry…I'm not sure that I really _get_ what is going on here, but I know it's not your fault…" he swallowed. "Blaine, we both know what I do…I do one-night stands. I don't do talking, I don't feelings…I do _pleasure…"_ he broke off, sighing. "But I'm not doing that with you…" he seemed to struggle for words. "I've never been anybodies _boyfriend_, okay?"

"Neither have I," said Blaine with a tiny grin on his face that made Sebastian roll his eyes just a little.

"I know…so, you talk to _someone - not Nick_, and I'll talk to Wes, and we'll figure this thing out. It can't be that hard, my parents managed it."

"Bastian, your dad is state attorney, I don't think he's stupid." Sebastian smirked at him.

"You see you don't _think_, but I do _know_." Blaine frowned at him, torn between laughing and rolling his eyes.

"I'm pretty sure that that was bad grammar." Sebastian shrugged.

"You're in my room, I'm king." Blaine rolled his eyes, again. They fell into silence before Sebastian got off his bed and sat on the floor, inspecting the food. "Blaine, this romance stuff…it matters to you, doesn't it?" Blaine wanted to shake his head, but he ended up nodding. Sebastian sighed, looking pensive, and Blaine began to feel his spirits pick up a little bit.

"I'm going to _really_ regret saying this, and it'll probably result in me wanting to kill myself-" Blaine's ears really _shouldn't_ have perked up in the way they did when he said that. "-but, why don't you tell me - _show_ me - what you want." Blaine beamed at him, eyes lighting up, and Sebastian rolled his own. Blaine sat down next to him, looking like a little kid on Christmas, and it made Sebastian smile, for some reason (okay, he knew why, but he wasn't having _that_ conversation with Blaine, _again_).

"Okay, this isn't going to be so bad, I promise."

"Never start a sentence like that." Blaine laughed.

"Right, first tip, less sarcastic comments."

"But, _Blaine_-"

"No insults."

"Oh god."

"And _no_ mickey taking."

"Yep, suicide immanent." Blaine continued to laugh, bright smile painted across his face, and, after a little while, Sebastian rolled his eyes, gave him a small smile, and leapt off the bed as his stomach growled. "Okay, so, are we eating or not?" Blaine bounced off the bed and right into Sebastian's arms, knocking the two onto the floor with a loud crash.

"_Oww_!" moaned Sebastian, but it was hidden under Blaine's continued laughter.

* * *

_I think I need to be quite worried about what I've gotten myself into. A lot of people kept grinning at me in a most unnerving manner - I'm presuming this is because Drew told them I was going to be a cheerleader - and a couple of boys patted me on the back in a sympathetic manner. I might just have to start praying to god that this is some sort hazing technique and not because I'm about to meet Coach Sylvester's double. Drew certainly looks very cheerful for someone on crutches. _

"What happened?" Drew shrugged as best he could whilst using the crutches to hop forward.

"I dunno, I opened a door and a tonne of equipment fell on me. I think the weights landed on my ankle." Kurt shook his head.

"You, Fred and Juri should start a club." he muttered, and Drew chuckled.

"Yeah, that's been said before." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Where _is_ Crawford?" he asked, suddenly, as he realised he had no idea where he was going. Drew grinned at him.

"You know the hall?" Kurt nodded. "Did you see the big hedge on the other side?" Kurt half shrugged. "Well, Crawford's on the other side of that." Kurt raised his eyebrows.

"Your sister school is on the other side of a _hedge_?" he asked, just a tad incredulous, and Drew nodded.

"It use to be one big campus, but then they decided that having hormonal teenagers of both sexes living a couple a meters from each other _wasn't_ a good idea…so they split." Kurt rolled his eyes, wondering why they hadn't thought of that to start with.

"I see." Drew grinned.

"Yeah, we still act like one school most of the time…we do the play and the Carol Service, together, and the cheerleaders come to all of our many sports matches, and, as you know, some of our clubs are even mixed." he shrugged. "They're nice, even if they're a little crazy sometimes." Kurt nodded.

"Yeah, Blaine seemed to be running from most of them." Drew burst out laughing.

"It's true…they're _in love_ with him. It's hilarious! You'll probably get someone crushing on you." Kurt rolled his eyes, thinking back to when Mercedes had had a crush on him. His car had born the brunt of that, and if any Crawford girl busted his window, he'd bust their skull.

They didn't leave through the gates, but, instead, walked round to the very edge, next to the wall that kept the outside world away, and Kurt noticed a much smaller door there. Drew punched in a code, and it opened into a small, old fashioned look, outhouse. The woman seated by the desk, looked up, casually flipping the page of her magazine.

"Hello Drew." she said in a bored voice, her eyes sliding to Kurt. "Who are you?" Kurt swallowed.

"Kurt Hummel."

"He's here for cheerleading." explained Drew, and Kurt got eyed up and down in a manner that mildly unnerved him.

"Sign in." she said, in a bored tone. Kurt let out a breath he hadn't realised that he'd been holding, any hope of getting turned away dashed. Drew scrawled his name in a barely legible manner, and Kurt, copying his lead, wrote his first and last name, and house, before following him out of the door.

"You get use to Emma." he said, conversationally. "She _hates_ her job." Kurt raised an eyebrow, and Drew shrugged. "She was unemployed, and she lost her flat so she came back to Crawford and they gave her _that_ job." he shrugged again. "She's nice, really." Kurt nodded, and broke into a run after Drew.

Crawford was made up of several large Victorian buildings, one of which had a glass roof and he presumed was the swimming pool. There were lots of girls walking around in blue and white tartan skirts that sat just above the knee, sleeveless navy jumpers with the school crest over their left breast - like on the Dalton blazers - white blouses and ties with the same pattern as the skirt. Most of them waved at Drew, and Drew grinned and waved back, as best as he could whilst keeping his balance.

Drew led Kurt over the river, that seemed to wind around the hedge, and towards the well mown sports field. There were lots of girls already there, all in navy cheerleading uniform. The edge of their short, pleated, skirts was a lighter blue with a tiny strip of white, and their tops - again sleeveless - were crisscrossed with the lighter blue and white stripe so that it went over their shoulders, and back down the other side of their back. In the centre, where the two lines intersected, was the emblem of their school - what looked like a red circle on a white background with a red outline - and over their left breast was sown another, differnt, crest.

"Coach Met!" the only adult in the vicinity turned to face Drew and Kurt.

Kurt's first thought was that she was _very_ different from Coach Sylvester. She was tall, too, but she had dark brown that was pulled back into a long plait. She looked much younger, she couldn't be much older than 26, and her eyes didn't have the deadly glare that Coach Sylvester's had. They were brown, and calculating. She was dressed in navy trousers with the lighter blue and white stripe running up the side. It split into a "Y" shape at her hip, and the top was the same except it had white sleeves.

"Drew." she strode over to them, and Drew smiled up at her. "What can I do for you?"

"This is Kurt Hummel." he introduced Kurt, and her face split into a grin.

"_Kurt Hummel_?" she said in disbelief, eyeing him up and down. "It _is_ you!" Kurt swallowed, glancing at Drew nervously. "We all saw your Nationals performance." Kurt's mouth fell open.

_Oh god, I __**hadn't**__ been planning on telling them about __**that**__. If they think that I'm going to do anything like __**that**__ again, they have another thing coming. _

The other cheerleaders were coming over, and quite a few of them looked a little too excited to see him. He recognised the girl who had played Cosette - Elise - and some of them looked familiar, they might have been in the chorus, or Blaine's fan club, but most of them he didn't recognise.

"I have to go." said Drew. "Football." Kurt turned to glare at the boy who was hastily retreating on his crutches, and it took him half a minute to realise that Drew was running away from _something_ because he couldn't play. Kurt growled under his breath, making a mental note to get him back for this later, before turning back to the cheerleaders.

"Well, I don't think we need any trials…we need the upper hand against McKinley after all." Kurt froze.

_What? That better not mean what I think it means._

"You…you _compete_ against _McKinley_?" he asked, incredulously.

"Yes, we have them for Regionals." Kurt groaned. After a year of being in Glee Club with Sue Sylvester as their number one enemy, Kurt knew there was _no way_ of beating her.

"I know it's horrible." said Elise, shrugging. "Your old Coach plays _really_ dirty." Kurt groaned again, thinking of all the malicious, harmful, schemes that Coach Sylvester could use against them.

"I know, she _hated_ the New Directions."

"Well, then, we have a common enemy. Elise, get Kurt his uniform, and set him up with a warm-up." Elise beckoned to Kurt, and Kurt followed her to small store cupboard.

"Okay…" said the blonde, flipping her hair. "What house are you in, again?" Kurt blinked, not sure why this was relevant, before answering.

"Franklin." she "hmmed" in response and climbed onto a table, looking in the shelves. "It'll be here somewhere." she said, more to herself than Kurt, and Kurt sighed, taking a seat and watching her fish around. "Aha!" she exclaimed, a few minutes later. She withdrew a red box from one of the shelves and handed it to Kurt. Kurt opened it and saw that his kit was exactly the same as what Coach Met had been wearing, accepted he had the Dalton emblem in the middle of the chest, and a different crest on the left.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the sown on red-shield with two diagonally crossing red lines, with the outline of a blue circle at the intersect.

"That's your house crest." Elise, brightly, as she began looking for something else. She got to her feet, and showed him the crest on her uniform. It was red, again, and had a single, vertical, gold line with a light blue circle in the middle of it. "See, I'm in Mather…the house sort of pair up; Mather and Franklin, Alcott and Harriot and Adams and Putnam." Kurt nodded.

"I've never seen it before."

"That's because we only wear them on formal occasions, or competitions, or house events…you won't have got yours yet." Kurt frowned. "You get the shield presented to you before you participate in one of those things for the first time. In fact, it's sort of meant to be a surprise, so forget I just told you anything." Kurt smiled at her, and found a pair of white plimsolls in the bottom. "Just tell me if they don't fit…I'll go stand outside." Kurt nodded, and she left the shed, closing the door behind her.

Kurt was surprised to find that the uniform fitted well. The shoes were a little too wide for his feet, but they weren't about to come off, or give him blisters. The top was tight-fitting, but he remembered the one from McKinley, and reasoned they must all be like that. The trousers were comfortable, and he kicked around a little - without knocking something off the shelves - and was glad to find he could move well.

"Hey." he came out of the shed, and saw Elise eye him up and down. "How do I look?" he asked, hoping his hair hadn't been too ruffled.

"Good." she said, giving him another once over. "You look good. Just what we need…'cause we're up against Garfield Academy next Friday, and if we beat them, which _never _happens, something big happens…I haven't worked out what." Kurt gaped at her.

"You want me to perform in a _week_?" Elise looked at him, eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, why not? I saw your performance at Nationals…you're a natural. I mean, sure, you'll have to do some work, but we'll be starting a new routine now, so you're basically on an even footing. Come on," she added, beginning to run towards the other cheerleaders. "you need to get warmed up." Kurt watched her run off, legs barely able to copy her, with a sinking feeling in his chest.

_Oh god, what __**have**__ I gotten myself into? Yes, I performed in less time with Coach Sylvester, but then I wasn't juggling a dozen other things. I still have a mountain of school work, and Warblers, and just generally being confused…I'm think I'm beginning to understand the point of the broom fights…they need stress relief. Do they __**ever**__ get any down time? _

* * *

_I think I'm going to drop dead from exhaustion. That cheerio practise lasted __**two and a half hours**__. I haven't done that much physical activity since…since I can't even __**remember**__! The worst thing, was that none of the others looked any where near as dead as I did, and I got the distinct impression that Coach Met would have kept on going if the soccer team hadn't turned up and demanded the pitch. I just got handed a schedule which requires me to train on Friday evening, __**after**__ Warblers, and on Saturday and Sunday…looks like I won't be going home for a long time. I'm beginning to remember why I quit in the first place, and, also, __**why**__ are Quinn, Santana and Brittney so __**obsessed**__ with being cheerleaders? I think I'd take the slushees over that kind of daily torture!_

Kurt was ready to collapse when he stumbled back into Franklin, still dressed in his cheerleading uniform. Those people that were in the common room winced as one as he stumbled towards a chair and flopped down into it. Kurt shut his eyes, ready to fall asleep, when he was poked. He grumbled, and swatted the hand away, but the poking became ever more persistent.

"_What_?" he snapped, forcing his eyes open. The sight of Daniel crouched before him, did not make him feel any better. "Daniel…I'm giving you three seconds to leave me alone; three, two-" Daniel's hand went over his mouth to stop him saying "one" and Kurt glared at him. Daniel swallowed.

"Shh." he said, and Kurt raised an eyebrow. He withdrew his hand from Kurt's mouth, eyes telling him to keep quiet. "I need to ask you something." he said in a low voice. Kurt raised an eyebrow, noting that was a distinct lack twinkle in his green eyes.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked, sitting up and feeling unnerved by his solemn expression. Daniel opened his mouth, about to say something, when Blaine came out of nowhere, sitting on the arm of Kurt's chair.

"Hey Kurt! Hey Feel!" Daniel snapped his mouth shut, eyes darting between the two boys, and Kurt didn't think he'd ever be _this_ unhappy to see Blaine. He forced a smile onto his face.

"Hey, Blaine." Blaine looked him up and down, and Kurt could feel that unwanted blush creep across his features.

"Cheerleading." he said, surprised. "Are you going to be at the match next Friday?" Kurt sighed.

"That's what I've been told." Blaine grinned.

"I hope you are, we might just win this year…if we can actually _play_ Drew this time." Kurt blinked, looking up at the other boy.

"Are you on the Football team?" Blaine nodded.

"Yeah, I'm the kicker, and sometimes punter, depending on who's available." Kurt glared at him.

"I wanted to be the kicker, I kicked for McKinley…I won the game for them in Sophomore year." Blaine grinned down at him.

"Sorry, that spot's been mine since I lost my temper in football - _soccer_ - practise and smashed the ball so hard it went over the main building." Kurt's mouth dropped open, and Blaine chuckled and nodded.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah…I mean, I'm centre forward on the football team so I'm basically good at kicking at a target." Kurt smiled at him, feeling a little bit more alive, and noticed that Daniel's eyes were continuing to flicker between the two of them. "You okay their Feel?" Daniel nodded, slowly.

"You're happy." he said, bluntly, staring at Blaine. Blaine frowned before nodding.

"Yeah…I managed to convince Sebastian to let me teach him about romance." Kurt raised his eyebrows. "I'm trying to convert him to becoming a romantic." Daniel frowned at him whilst Kurt laughed at the idea of Sebastian delivering Blaine flowers and writing love poetry.

"What?" Blaine had noticed Daniel's prolonged stare, and Kurt felt that awkward tension creep up again.

"Doesn't it- aren't you- Blaine, _be careful_!" Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Daniel it's _okay_. We got this covered." Daniel continued to frown, and Kurt felt his smile become rigid again.

"Blaine you weren't _there_." he said, and the thing that made Kurt the most anxious was the serious tone to Daniel's voice. He found their constant giggling annoying - who didn't - but he'd quickly grown to associate it with them. To think that their cheerful demeanour was just as much a part of them as their incredible ability to be completely in sync with each other.

_Oh hell, now I'm doing it. I'm thinking of Trinity as one person instead of three individuals…if I don't watch out I'll be calling them by their nicknames soon. _

Blaine seemed equally unsettled by Daniel's grave face, if his frown as anything to go by, and he sighed, loudly and heavily.

"Look, I spoke to Wes-" Kurt frowned in confusion at that, not sure what they were talking about anymore. "-and he said, well, he said that he thought it was genuine." there was a long pause. Then Daniel grinned.

"Does this mean you're making up?" Blaine sighed and then shook his head.

"I'm going to wait…I'll see what he says, but I'm not sure…I'm not sure I _can_…sorry, Daniel." The boy shook his head, dismissing the apology, and running a hand over his fine brown hair.

"It's okay." he assured him. Blaine gave him a half smile, and Kurt had opened his mouth to demand an explanation when several boys came running over to Blaine. They all began to speak at once, but Kurt caught the words "Sebastian" "come" and "flowers", and Blaine allowed himself to be pulled from the sofa and towed, by them, up the stairs. Kurt turned back to Daniel, a frown of annoyance on his face.

"Was that about Keats?" he asked. Daniel nodded, leaping to his feet and performing an arabesque. "Was it about me?" Daniel stopped his twirling for not longer than half a second, but it was long enough to give Kurt his answer. Kurt frowned as Daniel began spinning again. He thought for a second, carefully; there didn't seem anyone _better_ to ask than one of Trinity.

"Daniel, does Keats-" he never got a chance to finish his question because there was a loud crash, and several boys dressed in PE kit ran in. They grabbed Daniel and _carried_ him from the room, shouting an apology to Kurt, and promising to return him, as they went. Kurt flopped back into his seat, thoroughly annoyed with them.

_It's like the world is conspiring against me, or something…It seems I'm just __**destined**__ to never have my questions answered, and it's really important that I do…I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with the idea I have, and I'd quite like to discard as soon as possible…Ah well, I might as well go and tell dad that I won't be making it back for Friday night dinner, or the weekend…stupid cheerleading practise. When am I going to find time to do all those exercises?_

* * *

Blaine didn't know whether to be amused or not by the sight before him. On the plus side, Sebastian seemed to have been listening to him, on the downside…he clearly hadn't paid attention to detail. Blaine slammed the door shut, sneezing heavily. His eyes were pricking painfully, and he stumbled down the hall to Sebastian's room. He knocked on the door, and then walked inside. Sebastian looked up at him, and then frowned.

"Blaine…why are you crying?" Blaine walked over and slapped his arm. "Ouch! What did I do? I gave you flowers!" Blaine sneezed and glowered at him.

"I told you _not_ to give me lilies." Sebastian frowned, putting down his pen.

"Really? Oh, sorry, wasn't listening _that_ carefully." Blaine sighed, and Sebastian shrugged. "Shouldn't you just be impressed that I managed to get lilies delivered to the school in such a short amount of time." Blaine stared at him, and Sebastian shrugged. "Look, I tried and then I screwed up, what the hell? Doesn't matter." Blaine sighed, and then nodded.

"Yeah, just make a note or something…" Sebastian nodded.

"Okay, well… you know…" Blaine smiled at him, taking pleasure in having rendering the boy speechless - an occurrence that was so infrequent Blaine often wondered whether it was _possible_.

"You're right, I should just be impressed that you tried, and did it so quickly." Sebastian smirked.

"See, I'm _always_ right." Blaine glared at him, and then he sighed. Sebastian glanced at his face, and folding his arms, began to leave the room. Blaine followed him. "I'm not going to be able to talk to him, I think it's time you tried." Blaine shook his head.

"I tried, remember…don't want to end up in Hammonds' office, again." Sebastian sighed as they moved along the hallway together.

"See, the thing is, I don't believe him." Blaine frowned.

"But Wes-"

"Doesn't know him as well as me…it's too quick." Blaine frowned.

"If he's not being honest than what is he doing?" Sebastian shrugged.

"I don't know, I said Wes didn't know him as well as I did; I didn't say _I_ knew him well." Blaine sighed, and stopped before his door, unwilling to go back in and be assaulted by flowers.

"Do you think he's going to get hurt?" Sebastian bestowed his best "you-_really_-are-an-idiot-why-do-I-associate-myself-with-you?" look upon his boyfriend.

"Remember what happened to Fred and Andy when they decided that they were going to continue being the geeks that they are together?" Blaine sighed at that particularly unpleasant memory.

"Okay, should we tell him?"

"Should _you_ tell him, is what you mean." Blaine frowned, not understanding the point that was being made by Sebastian. Sebastian sighed with the air of one gathering all their patience. "Kurt doesn't like me, he won't believe what _I_ tell him. However, if _you_ talk about it…" Sebastian trailed off pointedly, and Blaine looked uncomfortable.

"Why doesn't he like you?" Sebastian rolled his eyes, giving Blaine the aforementioned look again.

"You know, for someone who has experienced as much as you, you are woefully dim-witted." With that final insult, Sebastian walked into Blaine's room, leaving it's resident standing outside, blinking in confusion and attempting to discern what message had been left for him in the remark.

Blaine shrugged, shaking his head, and turned to go back to Sebastian's room until it was safe to enter his own. He did not notice, however, the figure stood, frozen, on the top of the stairs. Their mouth was slightly agape, and a frown gracing their brow, having overheard the entire exchange. Blaine closed the door with a little more force than was necessary, causing the figure to jump. Kurt Hummel jerked out of his shocked stupor.

* * *

_I didn't get a chance to talk to Blaine last night. I didn't get a chance to talk to anyone. I was going to mention it to Juri, but he was back late and he looked really upset so I didn't want to bring anything up. The thing is, though, I'm beginning to get the impression that people - Fred and Andy for one - were hurt, __**physically**__ hurt. I'm not sure whether it's just my mind jumping to conclusions, but it seems to take something pretty serious to end up in Hammonds' office…I don't know, and it's half five in the morning. I have to get this stupid cheerleading training underway. There's so much to do…_

"Kurt, _what_ the hell are you doing?" the main light to the common room flickered on, and Kurt froze, rope falling onto his head as he turned to see Sebastian standing there, gazing at him in complete confusion.

"Err…" all powers of speech betrayed him in that moment as he stood, dressed in a t-shirt and loose pants, colouring red with embarrassment. "Coach…Coach Met…" he said by way of explanation, and Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"Okay I won't ask because it's some cheerleading thing." he said as he moved to the kitchen in a sluggish manner, his hair gel-less and flat against his forehead, the fringe swept to the left.

"What are you doing up?" he asked, curiously. Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"Blaine." he mumbled, and Kurt presumed this was about his was part of his "educate-Sebastian-in-the-way-of-a-romantic" thing.

"Oh." Sebastian set about making coffee whilst Kurt just stood there.

"Do you want coffee, or are you going to go back to pretending you're a nine year-old with incredibly pull-able plaits." Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"And you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Sebastian shrugged as the kettle came down from the boil.

"What can I say, I've been making girls cry my whole life. When I was little because I pulled the scrunches out, and now because I break their hearts." Kurt rolled his eyes. "Oh, please, let's not say that I'm not good looking, and it _does_ break their heart when I say I'm gay, and - as of recently - taken." Kurt rolled his eyes some more.

"If you're so attractive, why don't _you_ have a Crawford fan-club?" Sebastian smirked at him, devilishly.

"Oh, and therein lies the beauty of being able to make a girl cry. Blaine has this innocence about him. He's dapper and charming, and let's not pretend that that's _half_ of what makes him so desirable, and it makes them think that he's just playing hard to get, but me… I look into their eyes, see their soul and tear it shreds. Cruel, but necessary." Kurt raised an eyebrow, and Sebastian just shrugged. "It's useful. It means I can walk around Crawford unscathed and see my friends."

_"Friends?"_ he asked, not bothering to hide his disbelieving tone. Sebastian shrugged again.

"Social networking, Kurt, gotta start sometime. You should get _Facebook_." Kurt felt his features darken, slightly. He shook his head.

"I had it, once, but it was too easy for people to bully me." Sebastian's smirk vanished. He nodded.

"Right." Kurt blinked in shock at the change in his persona. Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Kurt I'm not a nice person, really. I can be cruel, dismissive, arrogant…but I don't like it when people are bullied because they're gay because I've realised that that could have been me. You know, I am _very _lucky to - a - have rich parents, and - b - have parents that don't care about me." Kurt frowned.

"How?" Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"They don't care about me so they sent me to Dalton. I'm completely out of the way, and I'm safe; win, win. Private schools can either be havens or death traps, because you can stuck with people who can make your life a living hell and you can't do _anything _because they pull the "my-parents-can-ruin-your-life" card on teachers." he shrugged, and Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"People like you, then." Sebastian rolled his eyes, giving Kurt a scathing look.

"Yes, like I do with _Luc."_ Kurt set down the rope.

"What do your parents do?" he asked, cautiously. Sebastian heaved a huge sigh.

"My dad is state attorney." he explained. "So, you know, piss me off and I can have you thrown in jail." Kurt smirked.

"No you can't." Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, what makes you so certain?" Kurt continued to smirk, walking forward a bit.

"If that was the case, Keats wouldn't be at Dalton." Sebastian's expression flickered. He set down his coffee.

"Kurt, tell me, do you know Keats' last name?" Kurt thought before shaking his head. "Powers." he said, and Kurt looked at him, uncertain whether he knew it or not. "His father is Senator for South Carolina." Kurt's mouth fell open.

"The-"

"Yep, the one who has Nazi like views about gays." Kurt raised his eyebrows. "Oh, I'm not joking, it's in between the lines, but it's there. He doesn't pull the religion card, people would think he's a fanatic, but he pulls the "it's-a-defunct-in-the-genome" one instead. He talks about it like "_yes, they have no choice, but the fact they cannot reproduce shows us that they were __**wrong**__, and it's nature, natural selection, showing us that they want this species to die_." Kurt gaped at him. "You've not heard any of this?" Kurt shook his head.

"No, I think my dad tries to, you know, protect me." Sebastian nodded.

"Fair enough. He reckons it's like, I dunno, your child having Down Syndrome. It's not anybody's fault, the child just has an extra chromosome, but it's not _right_, it's not what's _meant_ to be." Sebastian rubbed a hand over his mouth, and Kurt could see an unusual fire burning in his eyes. "He's clever, he talks well, and, of course, no one knows he has homosexual son, but it's all bull. If it was some screw up then they'd be able to examine our DNA and find _proof_, but so far I've not heard of anybody finding a "_gay-gene_", or anything of the sort. Besides it's not _impossible_ to pass your genes on if you're gay. There's surrogacy. Imagine if you had a lesbian couple and a gay couple, they decide to have child, and you get a kid that could, potentially, have _two_ "_gay-genes_", or whatever shit he's made up." Kurt stared at him, stunned into silence.

"You know _a lot_ about this." he said, slowly. Sebastian nodded.

"When I was a Sophomore, I met him and we got into this kind of discussion and I couldn't win, I didn't know enough…now, though…" he broke off smirking. "I can't _wait_ to meet him again. I've spent my holidays looking up his views, other people's views, and finding a way to discard it. I started reading _Plato_ and _Xenophon_ and their writings about _Socrates_, I was so passionate about it, about being able to convince people I'm right. There in, again, lies the beauty of having parents that don't care. They didn't know what I was doing - which is good because they would have hated it if they did - but I could be having sex with pigs, and they wouldn't care - unless it got in the tabloids." Kurt blinked at him some more.

_Well, I may not like him, but I have to admit he's the kind of person that the gay community needs, especially in this part of Ohio. He speaks with such passion, that it's kind of…unnerving, but you almost __**can't**__ disagree with him. He's a good speaker, and I think I might just be starting to respect him. Oh god, it's six in the morning, my brain can't handle that kind of revelation…he better have left some of that coffee for me…_

* * *

**Next Time- Going Down: The upcoming match against Garfield Academy promises tears of some sort, and the concert is creeping up on the Warblers as Kurt finds himself in a situation that he never would have dreamed of being in again…**


	10. Going Down

**The Scholarship**

**Episode 10: Going Down**

_I knew that Dalton would be different when I came here. That's the whole reason that I came. I wanted a safe school where I could be me, and no one would care…and I got that, but – I don't know – life here is just going differently to how I envisioned it would. I feel a little…I've got a lot of friends, kind of like the New Directions as far as variety goes, but I don't feel that close to anyone…except Keats, and that's the main problem. The closet friend I have doesn't get along with most of my other ones…and I find Vince, Stuart and Andy a bit…I don't know…The worst thing, apart from the fact that Sebastian is bugging the __**hell**__ out of me, is that there's always a __**big**__ event going on, like, now there's the Football game against Garfield…and I'm cheerleading then. That has the potential to go very badly, given the fact I'm struggling to do the extra practise…_

"Why hello, Hummel, didn't see you there." Kurt straightened up, and glared at Sebastian who was grinning down at him, slyly. Kurt pushed himself off the floor, where he'd tumbled from Sebastian's light bump. He dusted himself off, and checked the clock, knowing what the time was already. Ever since Sebastian had found Kurt that morning, he made a point of coming down, and disturbing his routine. Normally, Kurt would be halfway through dancing and wouldn't notice the head boy sneaking up behind him. It also didn't take very much to send Kurt to the ground as he was so focused on getting the steps right. Kurt wasn't precisely sure _why_ Sebastian felt the need to knock him over, but he'd learnt, over the past couple of days, that Sebastian's behaviour was weird and erratic when it came to him.

For one, another broom fight had erupted – it seemed to be the way to seek revenge if someone did something to you – when someone had stood on Drew's newly healed feet and Sebastian had pulled Kurt out before he could get concussed by Dominic, a Franklin Sophomore who was also a Warbler. He'd then thrust a broom into Kurt's hands and shoved him back into the melee before emitting a battle cry and knocking three people off their feet. The moment the fight had ended, though, he had snatched the broom from Kurt and snapped at him for chipping the handle.

Kurt had to admit that he was getting pretty sick of his behaviour, this school was meant to have a zero tolerance policy, and he had the feeling that Sebastian would be able to pull his head boy title if Kurt complained about anything. He threw the skipping rope into the sports bag he'd borrowed off Juri and stalked into the kitchen where Sebastian was making toast.

"What's your problem with me?" Sebastian turned around, frowning, and taking a long drink of coffee. When he'd set his cup down, and settled himself against the countertop, he answered with a smirk.

"I don't have a problem with you." Kurt arched his eyebrow, coming a little bit closer to Sebastian.

"Really, so you knocking me over every morning is just...what, exactly?" Sebastian sighed, his charming smile – oily and far more fake and considerably _less_ attractive than Blaine's – appearing on his face.

"It seems we have a little case of sun-head." he said, more to himself than Kurt. Kurt raised his eyebrows higher.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Sun-head; an unfortunate mental illness where the patient thinks that the world revolves around them, and that _everything_ is personal." It took all over Kurt's self control not to slap him right there and then. "You know, you _can_ slap me, I won't tell, Dalton honour." He held up his hand like he was about to take a pledge, and Kurt gaped at him.

"I– _what_?" Sebastian smirked at him.

"You have this look about you, I've seen it on a lot of people's faces...mainly when I drop the g-bomb." Kurt stared at him, completely lost.

"The _what_-bomb?"

"The g-bomb, short for gay-bomb." Kurt continued to stare at him, still not sure how the topic of conversation had managed to end up on _this_ track. "You have the 'I-_really_-want-to-slap-him-but-I'm-going-to-keep-decorum-and-not' look, I see it on a lot of girls faces' when I tell them I'm gay, after I've spent the past half hour making them think I like them."

_And Blaine actually __**likes**__ this guy?! He's a complete __**bastard**__! He lost my respect not very soon after he gained it. Good thing I never liked him because this would probably be one of those earth-shattering, betrayal of faith moments otherwise. _

"You're..." Kurt struggled to find a word that wasn't completely uncouth, and Sebastian smirked.

"Yeah, I also get that a lot."

"Why on _earth_ would Blaine fall for someone like _you_?" Kurt wasn't sure, but he could have sworn that Sebastian's face darkened, briefly, at that. Then he went back to looking smug.

"Well, some people have it and some people don't. For example; I have it and you don't." Kurt's expression crumbled at that, he tried to be not quite as hurt by those words as he was. Sebastian continued to look smug. "I'll tell you the important difference between the two of us. I know _exactly_ who I am, but you don't know who you are, and for someone like Blaine – who is, in turn, insecure – they don't want to go out with someone else insecure, they want someone who knows who they are. _That's_ why you like Keats." Kurt's mouth dropped open. He gaped at Sebastian.

_That's why I __**what**__? I don't __**like**__ Keats, at least not in the way I think he's implying. I should never have entered this conversation...I knew it wouldn't end well. I mean, what if he's right? What if Blaine just sees me as someone who's insecure...what if he looks down on me? Oh god, I am __**never**__ having a conversation with Sebastian again._

"I don't _like_ Keats!" he denied, eventually. "I lo–" he broke off before he could finish the sentence, not imagining the reaction he would get would be favourable. Sebastian smiled at him with that stupid condescending expression all over his face.

"I know how you feel about Blaine. You'd have to blind or Blaine not to." Kurt sighed in relief at that. He didn't want Blaine to know how he felt right now, not whilst Kurt was confused and still quite upset with him.

Kurt wasn't really sure where he stood with Blaine. He knew that Blaine saw him as a friend – he'd said it numerous times since Thursday – but Kurt _knew_ that Blaine wasn't being honest with him, and Blaine just kept playing stupid. He'd look blank whenever Kurt brought up the topic of him and Keats, and often diverted the conversation onto the topic of the upcoming match. Admittedly, Kurt didn't spend _that_ much time with him because he was still struggling his way through the catch up work, and killer Cheerios practise, but he felt awkward in Blaine's presence, constantly on edge, and he didn't like that feeling. He also did not like the fact that Sebastian knew.

"Is that– what are you going to do?" Sebastian raised his eyebrows.

"What am _I_ going to do?" he said surprised. "Nothing, you're not a threat." Kurt raised his eyebrows, and Sebastian set down his piece of toast. "You correctly noticed, Kurt, that I've been treating differently. I was trying to see if you were threat to me...and you're not. Blaine doesn't see you like that, in fact I think you'd have to go and _yell_ it in his face before he even considered it...and I get the impression that that's not _really_ your cup of tea." Kurt stared, dumbly at Sebastian, _wishing_ that the Senior didn't have the ability to successfully derail Kurt's ability to retort.

"I mean, yes, vocally you're good, but you're a counter-tenor which means I'm far more likely to sing _with_ you then anything else, and, well, I can't see Luc swapping Blaine for you in a hurry...Blaine and I have chemistry, we just have...tension, and not the sexual kind so it just becomes awkward." Kurt continued to stare at him, mind furiously working for something intelligent to say.

"How do you know he won't drop you for Blaine?" Sebastian laughed.

"Yeah, maybe, after we crash out at Regionals, but tell me this, Kurt; how good a Jean Valjean was I?" Kurt blinked, rolling his eyes and sighing.

"You were good," he replied, grudgingly. Sebastian raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, come on." Kurt rolled his eyes again.

"Alright, _fine_, you were the best performer on stage." Sebastian smirked at him.

"I rest my case." Kurt snorted lightly, crossing his arms.

"Why are you so sure we're going to flop at Regionals?" Sebastian gave him a disbelieving look.

"Do you really think the Warblers stand _a chance_ against Vocal Adrenaline? I got my arse kicked _two years in a row_ by those robots led by Jesse – _fuckin'_ – St James." he shook his head, and Kurt folded his arms.

"But Jesse's gone, so has Shelby, and I met Dustin _whatever_ and he doesn't seem half as good." Sebastian shook his head.

"_He's_ not important, 90% of that team are the same as the National winners last year, they'll tell him what to do. The big problem is "_Little Miss Sunshine_", we never thanked you for doing that." Kurt glowered back at Sebastian's sarcastic expression.

"I'll have you know that we came _this_ close to banning Rachel from the New Directions for that." Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

"Well that makes perfect sense, ban your top singer for giving your enemy a better singer..." he nodded. "Yep, you guys are geniuses." Kurt gave him a cold glare.

"Rachel isn't our "_top singer_", you know."

"Oh, really? That completely explains why she has all the solos then."

"Rachel didn't sing solo this year."

"Yes, and they only drew...naturally, a lot of that is due to the fact that me and Blaine on stage together are unstoppable, but your other singers weren't as good as Rachel."

"That's not– _how_ do you even know what Rachel sounds like?" Sebastian shrugged.

"Saw a little clip of your _Don't Stop Believin'_, you were cute." Kurt narrowed his eyes. "Oh come on, you really didn't think you were going to win did you? Did you _see_ their rendition of _Bohemian Rhapsody_?"

"No," said Kurt shortly. "only Rachel did. We were at the hospital." Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "Quinn went into labour." he added, before Sebastian could make another scathing remark. "She was the one that sung _I've Had the Time of My Life_."

"Oh...interesting...distracting...why the _hell_ did you have a _nine month pregnant _person dancing? Isn't that _completely_ irresponsible?" Kurt shrugged.

"She said she was okay, and Beth was fine." Sebastian shrugged, looking completely passive again.

"Right, well, fascinating as this conversation has been, I have places that I need to be, and _you_ need a shower." Kurt watched him swagger past before hesitantly sniffing himself. He wrinkled his nose in disgust at the powerful stench of sweat that he was emitting. He ground his teeth as, once again, he was forced to admit Sebastian Smythe had a point.

_I'm going to have to admit, no matter how annoying he is to talk to, my conversations with Sebastian are certainly enlightening. He makes a good point about Sunshine and Vocal Adrenaline; they have a winning combination and winning players, why bother shaking it up? Also, he makes a good point about the solos…if they're into duets…well, I might be able to beat Blaine, but do I __**want**__ to sing with Sebastian? Don't get me wrong, I know a solo is a solo, but still…I'd rather sing with Blaine._

* * *

"I _don't_ understand the point you're making." Blaine was sitting in the back of his science class with David, Thad and Fred, and was seriously bamboozled by Fred's argument to give him a blowtorch. His confusion, however, was drowned out by David's raging.

"I _will not_! I repeat _will not_! Ask Wes to see if he can get you a blowtorch."

"But, _David_…" whined Fred, eyes turning round and pleading.

"Oh god!" exclaimed the Councillor, hiding behind his fellow. "It's the puppy dog eyes." Thad, who was the only person on the back row paying any attention to the lesson, turned to blink at David before returning to whatever sum he was doing on his calculator. Blaine turned to Fred.

"How does having your own blowtorch mean you're _less_ likely to cause yourself injury, or blow something up, or set something on fire?" Fred sighed, dramatically, and adopted a look of false calm and patience.

"It means I get _more practise_."

"Yeah, at killing us all!" said David, having raised his head from behind Thad's back again when he realised the Warbler was completely ignoring him.

"Fred, look, I'm sorry, but there's _nothing_ you can say that will convince _anyone_ to buy you a blowtorch. You can't convince us, so what hope do you have of convincing Mr Kerr, he's still fuming over the door you blew up." Fred rolled his eyes.

"_That_ was necessary."

"Yeah, and we're very grateful," interjected David, "but that doesn't mean he isn't fuming. That's the _third_ door you've–"

"_Boys_!" the angry cry came from Mr Farrow and they all jumped. "Have you been listening _at all_?" there was an awkward pause. "Fred, I'm not happy with you after last week," Fred and the class winced at the memory of shattered test tubes and burnt fingers and hair. "Blaine and David you're both _already_ in serious trouble, and Thad what _on earth_ are you doing with your calculator?" the quiet boy shrugged. "This is a _chemical_ equation!" he raged, brandishing his finger at the board. "_Not_ a numerical one, and even then you ought not to be using your calculator."

"Unless you're using the formula," pointed out Fred in a chipper tone, "then you–" he quailed under his teacher's glare.

"_Pay attention_!" he roared at them, and the class winced as one. "_And_ if your work isn't _perfect_, I'll have you all in _exclusive_ detention for a _week_!"

"But, _sir_!" began the three Warblers, all completely alarmed at the prospect of potentially missing the concert.

"No, buts," he said firmly, "perfect work on my desk by tomorrow morning or don't take part in the game or the Warblers…and I think that would lead to missing the concert." There were thunderstruck expressions on every student in the classroom at that fearsome threat.

The concerts, and the match against Garfield Academy, were some of the most important events of the year, and not even an _exclusive_ detention could prevent somebody performing…unless they were a Warbler, or missed their audition. If they missed too many Warblers rehearsals in the run-up to the big event they would temporarily suspended from warbling duties and would face a tribunal – headed by Luc and the council – to decide their future in the prestigious choir. No tribunal had been called in over _fifty_ _years_, and _never_ in the Warblers' and Datlon's long and colourful history had a council member been the subject of a tribunal, let alone _two_.

There was silence in the classroom as everyone contemplated the idea of _three_ _people_ – one lead and two councillors – being the subjects of the first Warbler tribunal of the 21st Century, and the latter half of the 20th. Fred looked at his friends with a mildly guilty expression on his face, having started the conversation in the first place, and, now, was being punished less than them.

"Sir," he said, putting his hand into the air. "this is my fault…I began a conversation with them…" he broke off, shaking his head and annoyed that he couldn't quite find the right words to say what he wanted to say. "I asked them if they thought I could get my own, personal, blowtorch." There were a raised eyebrows and sniggering from the class. Mr Farrow stared at him, mouth slightly agape in shock.

"_What_ gave you the impression that _anyone _would allow you to own a blowtorch?" Fred shrugged at this other three gave him looks that said "see!" and "I-told-you-so".

"I don't know, sir, but I _really_ need one." Mr Farrow shook his head again.

"You realise that there is not _anyone_ I know that I would trust _less_ with a blowtorch than you." Fred looked mildly offended.

"What about Juri?" The Russian scowled at Fred from his seat in the row in front.

"Juri has the sense to not walk around with a blowtorch." Juri gave Fred a sanctimonious nod, and Fred glared back at him. Mr Farrow looked at the other three boys who looked like they were trying hard not to laugh at the conversation that they had just heard. "Well, boys, I guess I almost owe you an apology…though that _doesn't_ explain your need for a calculator, Thad." Thad just shrugged, suggesting that he wasn't sure, either, why he had needed his calculator.

"It's okay sir," said Blaine, charming smile in place, "we ought to know better than engage in _that_ kind of conversation." Their teacher nodded.

"Yes, yes you should…but that doesn't mean that you _do_." There was a slight pause.

"Um, are we still under threat of exclusive detention?" asked David, cautiously. Mr Farrow shook his head.

"I can't blame you for wanting to preserve the safety Dalton…though I want that work on my desk tomorrow, or I'll give you _in_clusive detention." There were sighs of relief.

"Thank you, sir." Mr Farrow nodded, giving them warning looks with his eyes, as the bell went. They hurriedly threw their books into their bags, and fled the classroom, pulling Juri out of the path of the bin.

"Blaine, I've been thinking." Blaine frowned at David.

"What about?" David sighed, and ran a hand over his head.

"You and Keats." Blaine groaned, David shrugged and the other three looked up in interest. "No, I'm serious Blaine. You gotta tell Kurt what happened, _now_." Blaine sighed, running a hand along his bag strap and glancing around to make sure neither of the aforementioned boys were in the vicinity.

"I _can't_." he said, stress heavy in his voice. "He needs to feel _safe_, and telling him that isn't going to make him feel like that." David glanced at Thad, Juri and Fred. Fred twitched, hand moving to rub the back of his neck.

"I gotta go…" he dashed away in completely the opposite direction to his next classroom. Juri rolled his eyes.

"I agree vith David." he said, allowing Thad to yank him away from a chair as he met Blaine's eyes. "It's better zan ze fallout." Blaine sighed, biting his tongue.

"I dunno, but I get the impression he hasn't quite settled into Dalton yet, no thanks to me, and I don't want to freak him out until then…Besides, I spoke to Sebastian and he thinks he'll be okay."

"Does he think he's genuine, 'cause Wes-"

"No, he doesn't believe him, but at the same time…" he broke off shrugging, and David sighed heavily, worry creasing his normally cheerful features.

"Look, either way you should spend more time with him." Blaine nodded.

"I know, I know…it's just…we don't have _any_ lessons together." he sighed. "and I've just been so distracted with Bastian and my dad…"

"I don't think Sebastian will mind if you spend less time with him because of _this_…after all, you're only involved because of him." Blaine waved the statement away, thinking that - regardless of his feelings - he probably would have still gotten caught in the crossfire.

"But, _why_ do I need spend more time with him, not that I don't like him, but that's what everyone's said…?" David sighed, heavily.

"Because the more you avoid it, the more it looks like you have something to hide."

"I'm not _hiding_ anything, I just-"

"Let me finished!" said David in a raised voice that made people turn to look at them. "As I was saying; if he thinks you're hiding something, he'll go to Keats, and what might Keats say… "_oh, yeah, last year Blaine broke my nose_" or whatever."

"But I broke his nose because he_ threw me into a bookcase_!" David put his hands over his face in a despairing manner.

"You are _so_ naïve! Keats isn't going to tell him _that_! He could spin it out, and Kurt could end up _hating_ you!" Blaine looked alarmed by the prospect, and so missed the "_really?_" looks Juri and Thad were giving David, clearly wondering whether it was possible for Kurt to hate Blaine. Blaine sighed, looking stressed.

"But…if he pulls away?" David put a hand on his shoulder.

"Better to get him out _now_." There was a long pause in which Blaine sighed again. He shook his head as they filed into their next classroom, rather late, and thumped his bag down louder than was necessary.

"Alright, fine, I'll hang out with him more, god knows I've been meaning to anyway, but I _don't_ want to tell him about this… Can I trust you not to talk about it with him?" David eyed him carefully, noting Fred rushing past the classroom and into Juri who was waiting for him.

"Okay, but if anything gets serious…if we think he might be in any _danger_…" Blaine rolled his eyes, looking a little annoyed at the fact that David had to ask that question.

"Of course!" he said, sounding frustrated as their French teacher swept in, dancing gracefully around the table. David nodded, looking mildly peeved, but not commentating further on the subject, clearly pleased with the omissions that he'd drew from Blaine.

"So, Thad, why _do_ you need a calculator?" Thad shrugged, glancing at their French teacher who was talking about her date on the weekend with the other members of the class.

"Sssalairesss." he replied causing David to pull a baffled face, and turned to Blaine who just shrugged.

"Man, you're meant to be fluent." Blaine shrugged again as Thad took his calculator back out, clearly ignoring the lesson.

"I'm not fluent, especially as Thad knows weird words that I don't." David rolled his eyes again, and they shuffled their desks closer to their teacher, who was in full flow of what had happened on the dance floor.

"... et puis il m'a tiré près et j'étais comme eww!" _"...and then he pulled me close and I was like eww!"_ most of the boys laughed at that, but David looked so close to banging his head against the table. Blaine leant in, taking pity of his friend's confused plight. How David ever managed to get into such an advanced French class Blaine had never worked out, because languages weren't his strong point at all.

"She's talking about how another guy thought that she was straight." David nodded, sitting up with a grin on his face.

"Avez-vous frappé?" _"Did you hit him?"_

"Non, mon garçon, j'ai séduit sa petite amie juste là devant lui! Je lui ai broyé lentement, puis…" _"No, my boy, I seduced his girlfriend right there before him! I ground her slowly, and then…"_

"Come again?" he muttered to Blaine. Blaine, on the other hand, had screwed up his face as she continued to talk in French. Thad put his calculator down, looking mildly queasy.

"You don't want to know." muttered Blaine in a low voice. "You _really_ don't want to know." his gaze fell onto Herman who looked like he might puke at the amount of detail their teacher was giving them. "Five, four, three, two-" David had blinked, and then noticed where Blaine and Thad were staring. "One."

"Madame, je crois que je vais être malade!" _"Madam, I think I'm going to be sick!"_

"And he's gone." said Blaine, snickering. Madam Marchand blinked at the back of the fleeing boy's blazer.

"C'était grossier!" _"That was rude!"_

* * *

_I don't know how I made it to lunch awake. I was terribly lose to falling asleep, and every fibre of my body __**aches**__! I almost fell asleep on Flint's shoulder, though he didn't seem to mind. He was more worried that Dr Booth was going to bite his head off for not completing his homework up to "the standard required and expected from Dalton boys". _

"…and then Herman went dashing out, _green_ in the face." the other boys laughed, and Kurt was trying to keep up with the conversation, but he didn't know who Herman was.

"You'd think she'd learn after teaching him for two years already." the other boys shook their heads at Flint.

"She _can't_ learn to be different, she's stuck the way it is."

"I seriously think that Mr Ashburn is going to get her fired some day." Kurt groaned and rubbed his eyes.

"You need sugar." said Nick, voice unbearably cheerful, and Kurt glared at him. "Here, have my-" the slice of cake that was about to be offered to Kurt was roughly stuffed into his mouth by Jeff. Nick coughed and spluttered, glaring at Jeff in a manner that was meant to make him fear for his life and that was completely undermined by his choking.

"He's right, though, if not sugar - I'm guessing you're not the biggest fan going by the look on your face - you could at least get coffee." Kurt blinked at Blaine, one word registering with his brain.

"Coffee?" Blaine laughed at the look on his face.

"Yes coffee, the drink of the gods, delivered, blessed, from Heaven by a choir of angels singing hallelujah to the lips of boys who's brains have been fried by the demons of homework, and algebra." Kurt glared at Jeff, who was smirking at him.

"Yes, _thank you_ for your poetic input, Jeff." Jeff bowed to Blaine, and Blaine rolled his eyes. "Come on," he said, tapping Kurt on the elbow and sending shivers all the way up his arm and it was carried all over his body thanks to his nervous system. "I'll show you." Kurt smiled, gratefully up at him, and got up onto his weak legs, and following Blaine over to one of the stands. "What's your coffee order?"

"Err, grande non-fat mocha." Blaine nodded.

"Right, never made _that_ before."

"And Blaine is a coffee geek."

"He is worryingly obsessed with it."

"We thought he might bleed coffee." Blaine nearly dropped the water when Trinity snuck up behind them, and Kurt could feel his heart thudding uncomfortably fast.

"_Trinity_!" exclaimed Blaine, teeth gritted. "_Don't_ sneak up on people!" Daniel yanked the water from between his fingers, and they set about making Kurt coffee. Kurt noticed that Blaine was glaring at the three boys, and tapped him on the shoulder slightly.

"Are you okay?" Blaine swallowed and nodded. He gave Kurt a charming smile that Kurt thought was a little forced, and put on for his own benefit.

"Yeah, course I'm fine." Kurt frowned at him, and Blaine swallowed. "I'm just thinking about the concert." Kurt frowned. "My dad's coming." expanded Blaine. "I'm wondering, now, whether I should have invited to Football, you know, it's more…_manly_." Kurt raised an eyebrow at him. Blaine blinked and then shook his head. "No, okay, that came out wrong…I do sport because I'm good at it and I like it…it just might have softened my dad up for coming to the concert." Kurt bit his lip, not really knowing what to say.

"Your family isn't…accepting then?" Blaine blinked and shook his head.

"What? No, my brother and I don't really talk about it - he's kind of always known - and my mum doesn't know…Emily's cool with it and Anna and Meg are too young to really get it. It's dad that's the problem."

"Who's Emily?" asked Kurt as they moved back to their table with the coffee, Trinity having vanished again.

"My step-mum. Anna and Meg are my half sisters." Kurt nodded, sliding into his seat again and gulping down the coffee, making a mental note to himself to thank Trinity later.

"So, are you doing a Warbler solo for the concert?" Blaine shrugged.

"Probably…I mean, Nick are you thinking of applying?" Nick shook his head.

"Oh, no way. I don't think anyone is challenging you." Blaine looked surprised.

"What? Really?" the other Juniors who were Warblers nodded.

"Yeah, I mean, Tyler might, but everyone else wants you to sing." Blaine sighed, looking relieved.

"Good, that's good." Kurt frowned, looking around at the Warblers.

"How do you apply for a solo?" there was a pause and then a sigh. Blaine laid down his fork.

"Well, you have to apply to Luc who passes it on to the council. Then, if you get the go ahead, you have sing against the current leads. Also, the council can nominate someone to audition if they think that they're good enough." Kurt nodded, the idea of applying looking tempting.

"Don't apply." said Nick, suddenly. Kurt blinked, and looking at him, confused. "Don't apply for lead or a solo." Kurt frowned.

"Why?" Nick sighed, glancing at the others.

"There's this unofficial rule," explained David. "that you have to have been presented your crest to perform a lead or solo." Kurt frowned.

"Your crest..? But I have that, it's on my cheerleading uniform." Heads were shaken by all the boys.

"_This_ is your crest." explained Blaine, reaching inside his blazer and pulling out a red velvet box. He opened it up and revealed a polished shield bearing the Franklin emblem.

"How do I get it, then?" he asked as Blaine tucked it back into his blazer.

"You'll get it for performing at this concert. The Freshmen Warblers will have gotten theirs at Sectionals." Kurt nodded, looking mildly discouraged.

"Don't worry." said Blaine, bumping his shoulder against Kurt's. "You'll be able to apply next time, and if you don't you'll _definitely_ be nominated." Kurt smiled back at him, feeling reassured.

"Right, thanks, do, um, do your parents have to get tickets?" there were nods.

"But don't worry, they get emails…or at least their secretary's PA does." Kurt noted the bitter tone in Flint's voice and decided not to inquire.

"It's always a good show." said David. "But you _have to_ see the art they put in the foyer before hand. You know that piece of Chris' that got ruined?" Kurt nodded. "That was for the concert." Kurt nodded again.

"Cool."

"You _won't_ believe this!" Wes had come dashing in, collided with a table, and then landed next to David. All the Juniors blinked at him as one.

"Hello to you, Wes. Oh, hello David. How's your day been? Oh, not bad, not bad…got emotionally scarred in French, but no big-" Wes clamped a hand over his mouth, rolling his eyes.

"You _won't believe_ when Luc's scheduled the solo auditions?" the boys looked at each other, shrugging.

"When?" asked David, after he'd clawed the hand from his mouth.

"_Friday_!" he exclaimed.

"What _this_ Friday?"

"No, Kurt, on the day of the concert." Kurt raised his eyebrows in surprise, taken aback by the sarcasm that had shot from Wes' mouth.

"Don't worry," muttered Blaine. "he's only like that when he get's tetchy."

"I don't know why _you're_ so casual Blaine, you _need_ the solo, and you'll get crucified if you miss again."

"I wasn't fully healed then." protested Blaine. "I _told_ Cunningham not to play me." there were eye rolls.

"Yeah, yeah, but we all know from Thad you were dancing around your room that morning." Blaine glared at his roommate who did not react, being so engrossed in his phone that none of the rest of them seemed to exist. They all looked at him, waiting for him to notice he was being stared at. Nick tentatively reached across and waved a hand up and down in front of his face.

"Jeff!" exclaimed the dark haired boy in an excited manner. Jeff handed him a brightly coloured circle on a stick. Kurt blinked.

"Should I be worried?" he asked Blaine in an undertone, who just looked amused. Blaine shook his head.

"No, this happens a lot." Nick began to spin the wheel faster and faster in front of his face, and Thad just ignored it. Eventually the bell went, the rest of them had just ignored Nick too, and Thad looked up, blinking.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, removing the wheel from his face. Kurt blinked, taken aback by the lack of stutter, but, as he glanced at the others, he noticed that none of the others were.

"Your concentration." Thad just rolled his eyes, and picked his bag up, shaking his head and muttering about "not related to you". David groaned.

"_No_, History!" he groaned, and Kurt shared his sentiment. Whilst Kurt had finished the assignment he knew that it was too similar to Juri's, and that it would not be up to Mrs Daniels' high standards. Juri was grumbling in what Kurt presumed was Russian.

"Ignore him," said David as they walked to their History classroom. "he does that whenever something upsets him…or he finds American life unsatisfactory." Kurt raised an eyebrow. "You've not seen him in the Summer." he said by way of explanation. Kurt nodded, and glanced at Thad who was reading something. Kurt bit down onto his upper lip.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"About Thad...?" David stiffened a little bit, but nodded.

"Sure…but I may not answer." Kurt nodded in acceptance.

"Um, why doesn't he stutter all the time?" David paused, but his body seemed to loosen, and Kurt knew he would receive an answer of some sorts.

"I don't really know," said David in a low voice. "when we first met him, he was _quiet_ but he didn't stutter. Then, somewhere in the Summer holidays, he got a stutter. No one knows why…well, Nick probably does, but he's not saying…he made it _very_ clear that he wasn't talking about it. I mean, Jeff doesn't even know." Kurt nodded.

"Right."

"You get use to it…he's _odd_, but he's nice, you know…he took really good care of Blaine when he was still shaken up from his old school. I mean, if he'd roomed with anyone else, we'd have probably have sent him running from Dalton, screaming." Kurt snorted with laughter. David adjusted his shoulder strap on his bag. "It's…you know the solo- _lead_ thing?" Kurt nodded.

"Yeah…what's the difference?" David blinked for a second, momentarily thrown by Kurt's question.

"Oh, what? Right, what we call a _"lead"_ is getting a solo in the Warblers. A _"solo"_ is, you know, singing or performing on your own."

"Right…"

"Anyway, it's not just about who's good." Kurt frowned.

"What do you mean?" David sighed.

"Just about everyone in the Warblers knows that Blaine's dad is coming…they want him to be accepted…" David shrugged. "They're willing to sacrifice the limelight for three minutes to help him gain his father's respect, or whatever." Kurt nodded.

_It gets more comforting, each time I hear about things like that. It's not just that they're prepared to help each other with their family lives, it's that they're __**so**__ behind homosexuals. I guess I can accept that Blaine definitely needs that lead. Besides, I __**do**__ have a solo- lead, whatever, in the cheerleading performance…it's just a shame that dad can't come…_

* * *

_Okay, where did the rest of the week go? On Tuesday I was feeling pretty calm, but now…I am about to freak out. I don't know how I made it through lessons today, and now I'm sitting outside the hall and we're waiting for the auditions to happen. I'm all dressed up in my cheerleading uniform, and it's unnerving, especially as two people have run out crying_.

"Oh my _god_!" exclaimed Nick, slumping into his chair. "What is _taking_ them so long?"

"Come on, Nick, we know Luc…" said David, stretching and clicking his neck. Kurt rubbed his eyes and tried to ignore Trinity who were currently playing "shoeball" with Drew and kept bouncing up and down as they couldn't squeal. Chris had his nose buried in a book, and Thad was fast asleep. Jeff kept flicking his ear, but the other boy didn't react.

"What does that mean?" asked Kurt, tiredly, after Nick had groaned even louder. David smirked at him.

"It means he's auditioning the ones he doesn't think can meet the cut first, and then tearing them down." Kurt raised an eyebrow, feeling pity for the boys that were auditioning.

"Is it really that bad?"

"Worse." groaned Jeff, moving away from Thad. "I auditioned when I was a Freshman…biggest mistake of my life. I refused to sing for _two weeks_ afterwards." Kurt opened his mouth to comment when the door opened, and Flint came charging out. The others winced.

"I thought you told him to go easy on him?" said Chris, mildly, not looking up as Nick hurried after Flint. David shrugged.

"Yeah, we _asked_…doesn't mean he listened." Wes dropped into Nick's vacated seat.

"How are things going in there?"

"Flint just came out." Wes looked around.

"Ah…awkward." the door opened again, and a small boy with dirty blonde hair entered the hallway. He had a grin on his face and he went dancing down the hallway, spinning round and round. Kurt blinked.

"Um…who was _that_?" Chris, who had peeked over the top of his book, sniggered.

"_That_ was Braden, he's a Freshman, he just got a solo by the looks of things." Another boy came following him, of Mexican descent, and calling out at the top of his voice;

"¡Lo tengo! Queridos dioses que han tenido éxito!" _"I got it! Dear gods I have been successful!"_ Kurt blinked, not possessing any knowledge of the Spanish language.

"Well, I think it's safe to say Pedro got a solo." The other boys snorted, and Kurt glanced at his phone, checking the time. Many of the New Directions had sent texts wishing him luck, and apologising for not being able to come because they had rehearsals.

"Oh good, this means Blaine'll be coming out soon." Kurt looked at the others.

"You think he's going to get a solo."

"Try _know_."

The others were right because the following five people who came out of the hall were jubilant. Kurt only recognised two of them, Warren and Francis who were Warblers, and, finally, Blaine came out. He was grinning, a little, and gratefully took his sports kit from Drew, quietly asking about Flint. Just over five minutes later, Sebastian came out with a smug grin on his face, followed by another Senior who was clutching a violin case, and muttering about people leaving their instruments behind.

Kurt shifted, again, knowing that they were waiting for Juri, as it seemed to be customary for his group of friends to sit outside the hall and get nervous on their behalf to show your support, and was annoyed that Wes and Sebastian, along with Liam and the other Senior, had left because Kurt was getting uncomfortable, and nervous for his own performance.

Juri left the hall accompanied with laughter. He was holding his horn case in his hand, and grinning from ear to ear. Kurt gave him a hug, and Chris clapped him on the shoulder. Fred came dashing down the hall, face dirty and laughed as he congratulated his friend. There were mainly rolled eyes from the boys, as if they were happy for him but already knew he was going to do well, and they made their way down to the bathroom to collect Blaine, Flint and Nick.

They came out of the bathroom, Blaine all dressed up in Football kit like Drew. Kurt couldn't help but admire him in it, thinking that it suited him well, but didn't stare too long because Flint's face was red and blotchy from tears. Jeff had sympathetically put his arms around him, and David began to console him as best he could with Trinity running rings around them all and blurting out whatever came to mind.

Kurt felt a strange sense, as they made their way to the back of the school to the Football pitch and stands, of belonging. The air was filled with laughter, Flint weakly chuckling as he began to cheer up. Blaine kept grinning at him, which just caused his heart to flip and flutter, and he grinned back, feeling woozy and having to remind himself, constantly, that Blaine didn't like him, and he had a boyfriend.

"Hey Kurt," Kurt smiled at Elise as he split from the others when they'd reached the sports field. Blaine and Drew had run to the rest of the team, and the others climbed up into the stands.

"Hey." he said, joining in with the warm-up, and pitying the girls who had to be freezing in their short skirts and sleeveless tops.

"Kurt!" a boy he didn't recognise with shaggy brown hair, grey eyes and a nasty scar across his face, came jogging over to him, dressed in a tracksuit. "Hey, Norman Hilliard." he said, shaking his hand.

"Hi…"

"Sorry to just drop in, Blaine sent me over." Kurt glanced at the boy who was busy warming up.

"Right."

"It's just a warning about Garfield." Kurt frowned, and Elise nodded grimly. "Some of the boys there are fine, others are…well, very homophobic…" Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Thanks, but I think I can handle it." Norman shook his head, looking worried.

"No, listen…couple of years ago, when I was a Sophomore, we had a female-to-male student and they almost chased him off campus because they gave him hell, and then he reported it, it went through their headmaster and _nothing_ happened. It took him nearly killing himself for us to find a teacher at Garfield that gave a damn." Kurt nodded, feeling slightly unsettled.

"Right, why are you telling me this?" Norman sighed.

"'Cause you're a guy cheerleader, _we_ don't have a problem with that, but they might…look, Blaine's just worried about you." he sighed. "If _anything_ happens you tell me, or Sebastian straight away, and we'll get it dealt with, understand?" Kurt nodded.

"Okay."

"Good." he nodded, a small smile appearing on his face. "Good luck with the performance, we're looking forward to it."

The Football game passed in a blur. The crowd screamed and roared, and Kurt leapt up and down in excitement, screaming the players on. Garfield scored two touchdowns relatively quickly, but failed to kick accurately. Still, they were five points ahead when the came went to halftime after Drew threw a perfect ball to someone else who barrelled his way into the end zone, and Blaine kept his nerve, not deterred by Kurt's high-pitched screaming, and converted it for an extra point.

"Okay," said Elise, glaring at the girls from St Emily's - Garfield's sister school - who were busy dancing and getting the visiting supporters on, "this is our moment to shine." Kurt could feel his heart thudding as hard as it had been when it had been up to him to win the game in Sophomore year. "We need to get the home crowd excited, and give our team a boost." Kurt nodded as the spotlight fell onto the pitch, and the other cheerleaders assembled themselves. Elise clapped him on the shoulder.

"You'll be fine, you look kind of hot so we have the girls and boys of any sexuality under our thumb." Kurt smirked back at her, and they slapped hands, wiggling their fingers.

_Alright, Kurt Hummel, time to blow their minds and rock their worlds!_

The music began to pump through the stadiums. The students looked up, beginning to clap to the catchy beat, and move along as Elise burst through the ranks.

_I'm wearing all my favourite brands, brands, brands, brands_

_Give me some space for both my hands, hands, hands, hands_

She strode through the cheerleaders that were moving effortlessly along with the beat, and David hid his face in his hands, groaning at the song whilst everyone else laughed at his expression.

_Yeah, yeah_

_'Cause it's goes on and on and on_

_And it goes on and on and on_

She twirled her hips, causing the pleats in the skirt to fan out, and encouraged all the boys to clap along. The hormone driven teenagers joined in enthusiastically, and David glared at the student body as they ogled his girlfriend.

_I throw my hands up in the air sometimes_

Kurt threw his hands upright, drawing attention to him, flicking his head back slightly, and strutting down. There were friendly whistles and whoops from most of the Dalton boys who recognised him.

_Saying ayo_

_Gotta let go_

_I wanna celebrate and live my life_

_Saying ayo_

_Baby, let's go_

Kurt felt completely exhilarated, just like when he'd performed with the cheerleaders before McKinley, as he danced and everyone cheered and encouraged him.

_'Cause we gon' rock this club_

Kurt and Elise joined their voices together, turning away, and striding down the side of the group of cheerleaders.

_We gon' go all night_

_We gon' light it up_

_Like it's dynamite_

The two of them performed a succession of handsprings back down to the front, finishing with a somersault whilst the cheerleaders threw two others up in a basket toss.

_'Cause I told you once_

_Now I told you twice_

_We gon' light it up_

_Like it's dynamite_

The Warblers, use to Kurt singing beautiful show-tune songs, looked dumbfounded. Blaine was dancing along, but his mouth was agape at how _low_ Kurt's voice had become. Sebastian was clapping, eyes narrowed, and Wes kept blinking.

"I don't _believe_ that's Kurt!" exclaimed Jeff, staring at the boy who was dancing down front. "This is _epic_!" Nick, who was leaping up and down wildly and waving his scarf around his head, nodded.

"I _know_! What happened to the show-tunes and sounding like a girl?!" Juri was hanging over the rail before them, eyes wide.

"Vow!" he kept muttering under his breath. "I had no idea…_Vow_!" Chris, who had a habit of reading through games, had put his book down and was watching Kurt with raised eyebrows.

"Well, someone's confident."

_I'm gonna take it all likeI'm gonna be the last one standing_

Elise began to pirouette, spinning around and around, hair a blonde blur and the skirt fanning out around her. She finished elegantly, arms in the air and head held high.

_I drove around like_

_I'm gonna be the last one landing_

He performed a cartwheel, a succession of back handsprings and a back flip, almost wobbling and loosing his balance.

Keats stared at the boy dancing away with Elise like he didn't have a care in the world, with complete fascination.

"I _do not_ like the look on his face." muttered Vince to Stuart. Stuart glanced at his old friend, and groaned.

"This is not going to end well." he muttered. "I mean, look at _Blaine_." the four friends leant forward and spotted Blaine leaping up and down on the touchline.

"We're _so_ screwed." came the comforting words from Parker.

_'Cause we gon' rock this club_

_We gon' go all night_

_We gon' light it up_

_Like it's dynamite_

The other cheerleaders were incredibly strong, and they lifted Kurt and Elise into the air, throwing them up so they flipped several times, Kurt reminded himself to tuck his head in, and braced his legs for impact.

_'Cause I told you once_

_Now I told you twice_

_We gon' light it up_

_Like it's dynamite_

Kurt and Elise finished at the front of the group, positioned so that they were angled towards each other, and the other cheerleaders on the floor, in positions Coach Met called "_blown-up_" positions; backs arched, arms thrown into the air and heads back. The crowd burst into applause, whistles and cheers, and Kurt caught sight of Blaine who was clapping his hands above his head and looking still a little bit surprised by the performance.

_I actually can't believe I just did that! I'm running on adrenaline, and I feel so awake and exhilarated. __**Now**__, I remember why I joined. This feeling is __**amazing**__. It looks like Blaine enjoyed it, and the rest are just cheering me on. God, how I have missed performing. It's been too long. _

* * *

_So, on the plus side, everyone loved my performance, and I've been getting an excessive amount of high fives, on the downside, we lost. The football team got out to a great start and we got ahead, but they subbed on some __**giant **__and he just…well, kind of **bulldozed** everyone to the ground, and it was kind of all over. Blaine didn't miss any kick that he was asked to do, but he and Drew were still crying at the end. It was kind of awkward in the dressing room because they were sniffling and grumbling. I guess it's going to be a depressing weekend…_

"Hello Kurt." Kurt turned around and saw a fair haired boy, who he recognised as a Warblers, proffering him his hand.

"Hello…"

"Charles, Charles Lancaster." Kurt smiled at him, slightly puzzled, accepting his hand and shaking it.

"It's nice to meet you, Charles."

"I thought your performance was stunning." Kurt smiled, more genuinely this time, revelling in the praise, and noticing his well cultured, British, accent.

"Thank you."

"Your vocal range is simply amazing, you should be our only lead." Kurt went pink.

"I don't know, Blaine and Sebastian are both very good." Charles rolled his eyes.

"Oh _please_, they're _old news_, you on the other hand…" he trailed off, smile - that was a little off to Kurt - firmly in place. Kurt smiled at him, beginning to feel uncomfortable about the situation he was in.

"Right, well, _thank you_, but I have to go and find…" he trailed off, trying to think of someone he needed to find, turning around when Charles caught his arm.

"No, wait, I'm sorry." Kurt turned around, acknowledging that the boy actually had quite firm, _tight_, grip on his bare forearm. His heart was beginning to pound faster.

_I don't know why, but this boys is making me feel…I don't know. I'm not __**intimidated**__, but I don't feel comfortable. Unfortunately we're still in the changing room, and the people going past are all so distracted by other things. Oh god, where are Trinity when you need them?_

"What do you want?" asked Kurt, bluntly, and felt worried by Charles pulling him closer.

"I'm gay, Kurt." he said softly. "I'm gay, so far my parents have been sceptical…" Kurt felt like he might throw his heart up, he felt so sick and it was beating so fast. "but I think you might just be what I need to convince them otherwise." his other hand was tracing up and down his bare arm, and Kurt couldn't breathe. He felt almost paralyzed by fear.

_Oh my god! I do not…I can't breathe…I have bad memories as far as being alone with gay guys in locker rooms to start with, now this…I'm actually __**scared**__! _

"What… what are you suggesting?"

"That _you_ go out with_ me_."

"No, no thanks." Kurt twisted his arm in his grasp, but Charles was clinging on harder. His brain was fighting for control, having been made sluggish by fear. Charles snorted.

"Don't waste your time on Blaine, he knows about your crush." Kurt looked at him, shocked. "Oh, he's playing you…stringing you along. He _hates_ you, Kurt. He doesn't want to look after you, he thinks you're _pathetic_, but he's doing his duty, it makes him look good. You think Dalton is new, and different, but it's not, Kurt. It's the same. The same shallowness, the same selfishness, the same desire for recognition. It's all life is, Kurt. That's what you want, isn't it? Your name up in lights, everybody fawning over you." Kurt swallowed, unnerved by how accurate he was. "It _won't_ happen." Kurt's heart was beating with such a ferocity that he thought he might pass out. "You _won't _make it big. You're not suited for anything. Unless you dress up in drag, pretend you're a woman, you'll _never_ get onto Broadway."

"You- you _don't_ know that."

"Oh, but I do, Kurt. You're nothing, so marry me." Kurt choked on something. Incredulity, fear and shock jumbling together, and rendering him speechless.

"What?"

"Marry me, come to England. I can set you up in a house with servants, and money, and, let's face it, you're not ever going to do better."

"What?"

"Your father owns a _tyre shop_ or a _garage_ or _something_ in _Lima, Ohio_…you can't be anymore insignificant or _pathetic_ than that!"

_Crack_!

Kurt slapped him across the face with his free hand. Charles stumbled, slightly, his grip slackening on Kurt's arm, and he wrenched it free. He made a dash for the door, escaping the horrifying reality of _whatever_ it was that was happening the only thing on his mind. Charles caught him. He was surprisingly strong, and he thrust him backwards, sending Kurt crashing into a locker. Charles leapt towards him, his hand clamping back down onto it's previous place, and the other covering his mouth. Kurt couldn't think straight. He couldn't _move_. What was he going to-

His wild, racing, mind ground to a halt. The hand had removed itself from his mouth, but he couldn't scream because Charles' lips were on his. It was painful, uncomfortable, and he felt like being sick, but worse it was this and Karofsky, melding together. The roughness of lips against his, the anger, the fury, and the fear combining. He was trapped, he was alone, and he knew that Charles, unlike Karfosky, would not storm out.

_I don't know what to do. I'm completely alone in here. No one's coming back for me. Oh god, __**please**__ let someone come looking for me. Blaine, Keats, Juri, Trinity, __**anyone**__. Oh Lord, even __**Sebastian**__! _

Kurt's fevered pleading brought some sense to him. There was no point praying to "_God_", because there was no one up there. No one watching over him. No one there for Kurt, but Kurt himself. He brought his knee upward, hitting Charles right between the legs. Charles squealed, recoiling, and Kurt took his chance. He flew through the dressing room, and out of the doors. He went sprinting away, through the crowds, the tears beginning to fall as he ran. He could hear his name being called, but he couldn't tell American from English, it was all the same.

"Kurt?" a figure came into his path, and it was the presence of a polo shirt assured him that it wasn't Charles. Two strong arms caught him, gently, holding him still. He bowed his head, tears streaming down his face. "Kurt?" a hand reached for his chin, lifting it, and Kurt had no strength to fight back. Hazel eyes met azure. "Kurt, what's happened?"

Blaine's voice was soft and gentle, filled with concern and hidden panic. Kurt could barely breathe, there was too much on his mind, too much in his chest.

"_Don't waste your time on Blaine, he knows about your crush…" _

"…_Oh, he's playing you…stringing you along. He __**hates**__ you, Kurt. He doesn't want to look after you, he thinks you're __**pathetic**__, but he's doing his duty, it makes him look good…"_

"Kurt, _tell me_!" footsteps were coming to a halt around them. Whispers were filling the air.

_Do they know? Are they judging me? What's Charles told them? Is he saying that I forced myself on him? Is he going to destroy me?_

"Kurt?" Electric blue eyes were now boring into his. They were terrified. There was open panic, and concern flashing through them. Their voice wavered. "Kurt?" and if anyone didn't think he was pathetic or worthless, it was them. Kurt turned to them, reaching for it. His arms were released, and he fell into chest glad in a blazer. Two spindly arms wrapped around him, holding him with surprising strength. He broke down, chest heaving, and panic pouring out. He was lowered to the ground. The whispers were increasing.

"It's okay." a hand stroked his hair from behind.

_I trust Juri. I don't know why, but I just do. He's talented, and sweet, and clumsy, and he's never seemed to have shut me out. He's just there. I can trust him to hold me, and not be mean, or take advantage_.

"Get Hammonds." said Sebastian in a serious voice, his eyes were zoned in on the bruises on Kurt's arms, and he had noticed the red, swollen, look to his lips. Blaine looked at him with wide eyes, noting the dark look in his green eyes that he hadn't seen since Freshman year. "Liam, get Hammonds, _now_!" the blonde dashed off. Blaine was shaking, unnerved by the look in Kurt's eyes. The anger and hurt the last time he'd cried was understandable, but the confusion, and mistrust, and _fear_ that had been in them this time scared him. Kurt was strong. He'd never seemed _scared_ before. Juri was crying, silently. Chris was stroking his hair.

"Get everyone who's staring to clear off." said Wes in a low voice. They nodded, moving off, shooing people away from the little huddle of Franklin Juniors that was Kurt, Juri and Chris.

"Keats, _leave_." the brown haired boy opened his mouth to protest. "_Now_." Sebastian stared at him, not allowing him to say that Kurt was his friend.

"Come on." muttered Vince. "Let's go." the little group of friends moved off. Blaine was standing there scared and unsure.

"Sebastian, what happened?" Sebastian, for once, ignored him.

"Did anyone see what happened?" there were shaken heads. "Someone find Trinity." Drew and Fred dashed off without question. Sebastian crossed his arms, marching over to Hammonds who was striding after Liam.

"What is going on?" he said, eyes darting to the two crying boys. Sebastian beckoned for him to step away from the main crowd, but Hammonds refused to move. "What _happened?"_

"I don't know for sure, but I think someone _forced_ themselves upon Kurt." Hammonds narrowed his eyes.

"Sebastian that is a _serious_ accusation to make." Sebastian swallowed, and nodded.

"I know, but _look_." he gestured to the finger-shaped bruising on his left arm. Hammonds' eyes narrowed.

"Was this someone from Garfield?" he asked, anger emanating from his body as he drew himself up.

"I don't know, sir, I've sent someone to find Trinity. They have a tendency to be all seeing." Hammonds nodded.

"I should make sure they don't leave until we know what happened." Sebastian gave a curt nod of agreement. Blaine knelt down by Kurt's ear.

"Kurt," he whispered, as Hammonds pulled out his phone. "Kurt, it's Blaine…I don't know what he said to you, but I _really_ care about you…" he nodded to himself, trying to think. "and I remember what you said to me…about Karofsky. I can't say I know how you feel, but I _do_ know how it feels to be alone, and scared, and like no one cares, but they _do_. I _promise you_, they do." he leant his head against Kurt's soft hair, and ear. Hammonds put his phone away, appraising the scene.

"You wanted us?"

"You called upon us?"

"You required our-"

"_Stop_!" said Sebastian, sharply. Trinity fell silent, eyeing him carefully. Drew and Fred came to stand by Juri. "Did you see who hurt Kurt?"

"Hurt _Kurt_?"

"Kurt was hurt?"

"Why would they?"

"Just _answer me_! When did you last see him?" they glanced at each other.

"He was in the dressing room."

"Then everyone else came out."

"And Charles went in."

"Charles _Lancaster_?" They nodded as one. Wes looked crushed at the idea. Hammonds was silently furious.

"Get him to my office." he ordered, voice cold. Trinity looked frightened, and ran away in an instant. He turned to Juri and Blaine, who was still leaning into Kurt, trying to comfort him. "Take Kurt somewhere until he calms down, and then take him to my office. I want you - Sebastian - and the other Warbler councillors, and the prefects. Round them up, now, this is _serious_. I need to get in touch with the parents. Liam, send the Garfield students on their way." Liam nodded, and the boys dispersed.

"You guys, _go_." For once, everyone obeyed Sebastian's authority. "I'll call you two when they're all ready for Kurt." Juri nodded, wiping his eyes. "Blaine?" Sebastian leant a hand on Blaine's shoulder. Hazel eyes looked up, tear-filled and shocked. "If Charles did _anything_, we'll get him expelled. Okay?" Blaine nodded. "Good." he clapped him on the shoulder a couple of times, before he moved off.

Blaine sniffed and looked at Kurt. He had stopped crying, and was simply nestled into Juri's chest. Juri was wiping his eyes with alternate hands, and looked distressed by his friend's sorrow. Chris ruffled Kurt's hair once more and moved off with Drew and Fred, exchanging worried whispers. Wes had hurried away with Sebastian. David looked at Nick and Flint who were on either side of him. Then they moved away, Jeff and Thad on the furthest flanks. Blaine glanced at Juri.

"Kurt, can you stand?" Kurt didn't respond. "Kurt, _please_, answer me. _Can you stand_?" There was a long pause, before Kurt gave any response.

_I don't know why, but Blaine's words, they comforted me. Feeling him so close, it made me feel safe. I guess this isn't such a stupid crush after all. It's always been about the comfort I get from him. That safety. He cares about me. He said so, and my mind is coming to it's senses as I stop crying…I know better than to trust someone like Charles over Blaine. Blaine is a good man, Charles is…I can stand, though, so I'm going to nod. I'm nodding. I have to stand, now. Standing in process. Complete._

"Kurt?" Kurt looked up into Blaine's eyes. "Kurt…come with me." he looped an arm around his shoulder, and Kurt felt himself shiver. "Juri?" Juri gently took Kurt's hand. Kurt shivered again. The two boys froze.

"Kurt…" said Juri, fear creeping into his voice. Kurt looked between them. He continued to shiver, his teeth chattered as he tried to find something to say. They sagged in relief.

"Here." said Blaine, shrugging off his blazer and draping it around Kurt's shoulders.

"I'm wearing _short sleeves_! It's _Winter_!" Blaine chuckled, and Juri just grinned. Blaine wrapped an arm around Kurt's shoulders again, pulling him against his chest to give him his body heat. Juri took his hand again.

"Come on." he said, beginning to lead the way. Kurt smiled up at him, feeling a little tearful again. "You know, you're very sturdy." he commended him as they walked at fast gait. "I would have _begged _for a long sleeved top." Kurt chuckled under his breath.

"It is not so cold." said Juri and Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Yes, but you're _Russian_!" Kurt looked and noted that, unlike Blaine, he was not wearing the blue cardigan or a scarf or hat or gloves.

"It is still not cold."

"Well, la di da!" said Blaine, rolling his eyes pointedly at Kurt. Kurt giggled, and Blaine pulled his hat off his head, and stuffed it over his hair. He then unwound his scarf and draped it around Kurt's neck. "Tough enough for you?" he asked, and Juri shook his head.

"Not even close." Blaine laughed, hooking his arm around Kurt, stumbling slightly and almost sending them tumbling to the ground. Juri pulled them upright, taking his eyes off his feet, and colliding with a bench. "Yow!" he exclaimed, uttering a string of words in Russian that Kurt presumed were curses.

"Here." said Blaine, sitting them down on the bench where Kurt had explained about what had happened to McKinley. Kurt frowned at Blaine. "We're just going to sit here, until Sebastian comes for us. You need some time to yourself…feel free to cry again."

_I really do feel like crying again. They're being so nice to me. They're not judging me. They clearly think that Charles hurt me, as he did. I wouldn't expect them too, though, because they've known Charles for longer. I'm warming up, inside and out. Blaine is looking after me, he must care because he's starting to shiver himself. I tried to give the scarf back, but he just pushed the hat down over my eyes. God, do I love him…I didn't think he knew. I'll ask Trinity. They know everything…_

* * *

**Next Time- Time Out: Furious at the events after the Football match, Burt pulls Kurt out of Dalton Academy, worried about his safety, and Blaine and Keats agree set aside their differences in attempt to help him come back…**


	11. Time Out

**_Dear readers, _**

**_Firstly I would like to thank you for your continued support of my story, again. Whether it's reading your reviews or just seeing that people have viewed it, is a huge lift, and helps me to keep writing - especially as I've got a lot of work and personal issues going on. _**

**_Secondly, I want to clarify the whole Blaine/Kurt thing that seems to be causing some confusion. I mentioned, in a previous author note, that I didn't want to give away who was going to end up with who, but I've found a better way of describing what I also wanted to say; I'm not writing this story for any ship, I'm writing it for the plot. I'm writing it because I got an idea, and said idea was hijacked by plot bunnies, and now I'm writing towards a particular ending, which is becoming more solidified in my mind. _**

**_Also, someone suggested in a Guest review that I changed the labelling of the story; but I thought it was kind of obvious why I labelled it like I did. I put Blaine and Kurt there because the story is told from their two points of view, possibly Kurt's slightly more than Blaine's, and so I think it's reasonable to put that. It is the reason, though, why I put the genre as "friendship" and "drama", because I think that pretty much puts the story in a nutshell. _**

**_So, could I possibly ask for the nit-picking about this to, and for you just to enjoy the story? If you don't like reading the plot, or the Seblaine relationship, then you're welcome to stop, but I really don't think it's that important._**

**_Please enjoy the chapter after my extortionately long author's note!_**

**_Sopphires._**

* * *

**The Scholarship**

**Episode 11: Time Out**

_Earlier this evening was…amazing! I performed 'Dynamite' in front of the entire school, with Elise. I was so exhilarated, and it almost didn't matter that we lost. It was what happened after that that's the reason I'm in some room off Hammonds' office. Charles Lancaster - a Warbler I barely know - cornered me in the locker rooms. He…he grabbed me, he insulted me, and then he kissed me. It was like Karofsky all over again. Now I want to be sick, but I have to sit and tell Hammonds and my family what happened. At least I've got Blaine, and Juri, and the others, behind me…_

"Kurt, can you tell us what happened?" Kurt shifted, and Blaine reaffirmed his grip on his left hand, giving him a reassuring smile. Juri rubbed his right arm, comfortingly. Burt was sitting on a chair leaning forward, Carole in one next to him. Finn sat on the arm of the sofa on the other side of Juri, looking tense. Sebastian had his arms folded, standing behind Blaine. Wes was by his shoulder, David next to him, and Thad stood next to the corner. On Sebastian's other side stood three other boys. One was Norman, but the other two Kurt couldn't put a name to.

"Son, what happened? And who are _they_?" Burt looked angry and concerned, and jabbed his finger at the three boys by Sebastian.

"_They_ are the prefects; George Cook-" the mousey haired boy nodded, and sniffed, loudly. "-Mac Fried-" the boy who had come out of the auditions with Sebastian, and was lean and had golden-brown ringlets, briefly smiled. "-and Norman Hilliard." Norman's eyes flickered from Charles, who was seated alone with a laptop that showed his parents, to Burt. He blinked in acknowledgement, before redirecting his gaze.

"Right. Kurt, what happened?" Kurt looked at Blaine who leant in.

"Kurt, you just tell everyone what happened, okay? It's going to be okay, we'll get him. I _promise_." Sebastian lowered one of his hands onto Kurt's shoulder and gave it a swift pat. Kurt wasn't sure what to make of that, but he understood that it was meant to be comforting and reassuring. Blaine lifted his arm around Kurt's shoulder, and Burt and Finn stiffened. Kurt closed his eyes.

"I was just in the locker rooms after the game had finished. I was just cleaning up and folding my uniform, and I was just kind of- I don't know, all the Footballers had just left, and then I heard my name." he swallowed. "I turned around and saw…_him_. I kind of recognised him from Warblers…he introduced himself, and he- he told me that I was a really good singer." he swallowed, feeling the tears begin to well in his eyes.

_It was so easy to get to me…he just had to compliment me, and I was listening to him, all alone. My stupid, **stupid,** pride. Charles was right…and it was all my fault! If he hadn't have complimented me, I wouldn't have stayed that long…_

"Kurt!" Kurt jumped at the sharp voice. Kurt twisted to see Sebastian glaring at him. Sebastian opened his mouth, faltered, and shook his head, indicating for someone else to talk.

"It's not your fault." said David. "Whatever happened, it's not your fault, Kurt." Kurt nodded, biting his lip, and accepting the tissue from Juri.

"It's not _my _fault, I-"

"Charles, your turn will come." said Hammonds, sharply. "Kurt, carry on." his eyes went from hard to gentle quickly. Suddenly the door opened and closed and Luc, dressed in blue and white striped pyjamas, entered the room.

"Sorry." he said, taking in the scene and then dashing over to Thad, beckoning him close. Kurt gave him a weak smile and the other teachers - Mrs Daniels, Professor Lloyd and Dr Booth - rolled their eyes and shook their heads.

"Kurt?" Kurt sniffed, and dabbed his eyes.

"He told me…" he went red, twisting the tissue in his hands. "told me I should be the only soloist, and then I went to leave, but he caught me by the arm and I began to feel uncomfortable, and he told me he was gay, and that his parents didn't approve, and he was-" Kurt choked, the words that had come streaming from his mouth suddenly stopping. "-he was _stroking _my forearm." Carole clamped a hand around Burt's forearm, and Thad, acting on some sort of instinct, grabbed the back of Finn's jacket. He gave him a warning look. Juri threw himself onto Kurt. Kurt sniffed and held onto his roommate.

"You're doing great." said Blaine, rubbing his upper arm. "Stop strangling him, Juri." the Russian boy drew back, sheepishly.

"Sorry." he said, grinning, and Kurt smiled at him, weakly.

"He just- he asked me out, and I said no, and he held on tighter." Blaine gently lifted the blazer from Kurt's shoulders, and with cool fingertips, he showed the bruises to the others. Burt growled, and Thad clenched back onto Finn's collar. Kurt took several deep breaths. "He said…he said some mean stuff."

"What "_stuff_", Kurt?" asked Professor Lloyd, face creased with worry.

"He said that Blaine hated me. That he thought I was pathetic and that he was only helping me so that he looked good." Blaine glared at Charles, and then pressed Kurt a little harder to his chest.

"I like you _a lot_, Kurt." he said, in a sincere voice. "You're amazing, you really are." Kurt smiled at him, and closed his eyes as he began to steel himself to continue.

"He said that that's what I wanted; fame, recognition, and that it wouldn't happen, unless I dressed in drag." he swallowed whilst people swelled indignantly.

"That's a _lie_!" said Finn, glaring at Charles. "Kurt is _amazing_! He wouldn't have a scholarship otherwise!" Kurt smiled at Finn as he was given looks that told him to be quiet.

"Thanks, Finn, and then…" he broke off, swallowing. "Then he asked me to marry him." there was a shocked pause. No one said anything.

"Oh, Charles, _finally_!" exclaimed his mother, after a long moment of silence. Everyone stared at the screen in various of states of shock, perplexity or anger. It was Luc that broke the silence. He burst out laughing. Angry eyes were turned to him as he continued to laugh.

"I'm sorry." he said, laughing. "but, _really_? Your son isn't legally allowed to marry! Why would you say _finally_?" he shook his head. "Besides, it's obvious Kurt didn't say yes."

"Well, _thank you_, Luc." said Hammonds, glaring at him. "Anyway, Kurt, please carry on."

"I said no, and he said I wasn't going to do any better." There were angry outbursts, and Hammonds was beginning to loose his temper.

"_Keep quiet_!" he bellowed. "Kurt, I'm sorry, please continue." Kurt swallowed.

"He said 'cause my dad owned a tyre shop and garage in Lima, Ohio I was nothing…and so I slapped him." Kurt wasn't sure, but he could swear Burt and Finn shared pleased looks at that. His father definitely looked proud of him, but he was desperately trying to hide it.

"I see."

"And he slackened his grip, so I tried to run, but he threw me into the lockers and he covered my mouth and he was still grabbing my forearm and he kissed me." There was silence. Kurt sniffed, Blaine tightened his arm around him. Burt and Finn looked ready to murder someone. Hammonds turned his gaze to Charles, examining him, before turning back to Kurt.

"And then what did you do?" Kurt blinked, dispelling his tears, and turning slightly pink.

"I…um…I kneed him." there were raised eyebrows. "…between the legs." Several people snorted, and Luc reached across, patting him on the back. Juri gave him a sly smile, and Blaine just nodded.

"Then you ran?" Kurt nodded.

"I just ran…and then I ran into Blaine, and then Juri and the others were there…" his throat closed up, remembered the feelings of shame and fear and helplessness that had clogged his chest.

"And we all saw the bruises," said Sebastian, taking over fluidly, "and his lips looked…well, swollen, and the way he broke down into Juri's arms…well, I sent Liam for you because it looked serious." Burt nodded at Sebastian, thanking him. Sebastian nodded back at him.

"Right, Charles, do you have anything to say?" Charles shrugged.

"I didn't mean to hurt him." he said, casually. "I just-" he shrugged. "My parents have constantly told me that if I find a nice, talented, good looking boy…I can marry him, and it won't be a disgrace." Hammonds looked at him with a good deal more kindness on his face.

"I see, why did you _force_ yourself onto him?" Charles shrugged.

"I don't know…he kept trying to leave, and I wasn't finished. You don't just _leave_ my presence."

"And the kiss?"

"He was playing hard to get…he wanted it, I know he did." Hammonds sat back, looking contemplative.

"_Sir_," said Sebastian in a harsh voice. "two years ago you said any physical harm, _any at all_, would result in immediate expulsion…those bruises are physical harm…you _have to_ expel him."

"That's true, sir, it is what you said."

"I know, Wes, I know."

"Then expel him!" exclaimed the Warbler councillor, throwing his hands up in annoyance and exasperation. There was a long pause in which Hammonds just sighed.

"Was it a threat?" everyone looked at Thad, who looked…_normal_, but there was something worried in his voice. "Wassss it...just a threat?"

"No, Thad, it wasn't…" Hammonds sighed. "I just never thought I'd have to follow it through." he looked genuinely sad. "I'm _very sorry_, Charles, but I have no choice. I did say, before many of the people in this room, that I would expel anybody who harmed another student…and you've done that. From henceforward, you are no longer a Dalton boy." There was a quiet moment. Norman and George lowered their heads. Dr Booth walked forward, extending his hand, and Charles reached from inside his blazer and handed the small box that contained his crest.

"George, please escort Charles to Harriot. Get his things together, and then escort him off campus."

"Wait! Where do I go?" Charles looked thrown, and a little panicky.

"Mr and Mrs Lancaster?" the two adults, who looked dumbstruck, blinked.

"Right, well, um, we'll get in touch with our friends…we can get you on a train to New York…yeah, it'll be fine." George walked over, and beckoned Charles to his feet. The ex-Warbler got to his feet, closing his laptop screen.

"Luc?" he asked, searching for some form of support from the music director, but Luc had nothing other than coldness in his eyes.

"That's Mr Lucey to you, thank you." Charles looked ready to throw the laptop on the floor. "You let me down, I don't take disappointment well." George opened the door, and waited for Charles. George nodded at the others before closing the door.

Kurt let out a huge sigh, dropping his head down, heart thumping. Blaine rubbed his back, soothingly as Kurt gulped in some air as he tried to steady his head. His heart had gone wild with apprehension and nerves when Sebastian had brought up expulsion. He had waited, tense and hoping, _praying_, that he would expel him. Kurt felt sorry for him, of course, because of what he said about his parents, but he'd forced himself onto Kurt. He'd made him terrified, helpless, and Kurt never, _ever_, wanted to feel like that again.

"Sir, thank you." Hammonds gave him a tense smile.

"Sebastian and Wes were right, I made a rule…what happened to you was unacceptable…this is a safe school." he looked troubled though, and Kurt guessed that it was upsetting for him to expel a student. Thad finally let go of Finn's collar.

"Kurt, I'm sorry," said Blaine, looking incredibly apologetic. "I should have waited for you." Kurt shook his head.

"No, you guys…it's not your fault. You _knew_ him, and you'd never think he'd do something like that, _and_ you'd just lost a Football game." Blaine smiled at that.

"Thank you…"

"Could I speak to you, Hammonds, alone?" Kurt looked at his father, immediately concerned.

"Why?"

"I want to talk to him." Hammonds nodded.

"Right, clear the room." The teachers got up and left, followed by the prefects. Kurt looked at his father, who nodded for him to stay. Wes and Sebastian hurried out, whispering, and David waited for Juri and Blaine. Blaine clasped his hands once more before leaving the room, closing the door quietly. Finn scooted up the sofa so that he was sitting next to Kurt. Burt fixed Hammonds with a harsh stare.

"My son is meant to be _safe_ here." he said in an angry voice. Kurt groaned, having known that something like this had to have been coming.

"Dad…" he said, tired warning in his voice.

"No, son, I sent you to Dalton so that you would be safe."

"I _am_ safe, dad!" Burt almost glared at him, but his gaze softened so that it was almost pitying.

"Son, what happened to you…not even McKinley was _that_ bad." Kurt swallowed, images of Karofsky in the locker room swimming to the front of his mind. Hammonds sat up, a little straighter.

"That reminds me, actually. Blaine _mentioned_ Karofsky when you were upset." Kurt swallowed, eyes going slightly wide as remembered Blaine's whispers. Burt blinked, turning his attention back on his son.

"Kurt?" Kurt swallowed, slightly, not _at all_ prepared to tell anyone in the room what Karofsky had done, but not really sure _what else_ to say.

"I just- it was in the locker rooms that he…" he broke off swallowing. "that he threatened to kill me."

_Okay, complete lie, but he did threaten to kill you __**because**__ of what happened in the locker rooms so…it's just about close enough to the truth. Just about._

There was a long silence. Burt looked like he wanted to punch someone, but that expression seemed to be permanently fixed on his face whenever Karofsky or the death threat was mentioned. Finn looked similarly angry. Hammonds just looked a little bit more understanding. Kurt was finding it increasingly difficult to look at anyone.

"My son, shouldn't have to go through _that_ again."

"I quite agree."

"I'm taking him away from here." Kurt felt his heart leap in fright. What? His dad couldn't _take him away_, he'd just _got in_!

"Dad, _no_!" Burt shook his head, looking troubled.

"I'm sorry, Kurt, but I can't leave you in a school where you've been assaulted." Kurt looked desperately around the room for support, but Finn just shrugged and Carole was nodding lightly. Hammonds had an impassive look on his face, like he wasn't going to show how he really felt about the situation.

"But, dad, Charles is gone!"

"I'm sorry, Kurt, I _can't_." Kurt looked at Hammonds, imploring him to help him. Hammonds sighed, putting his hands on his knees.

"I'm sorry, Kurt, but you can't expect your father to leave you in a school where you've been hurt, not after everything that happened."

"I can take care of myself! I'm not _scared_!"

"Kurt, please calm down." but Kurt couldn't. He was angry. Angry because he'd been violated at Dalton, and angry because he didn't want to be chased out of another school. He didn't want to keep running away. He felt like a coward.

The tears sprang into his eyes at the thought. He couldn't take it. He couldn't take his dad treating him like he was made of glass. He wasn't broken. He was _fine_, and he was _sick_ of people treating him like he wasn't. Suddenly, all he wanted, was to be with the Dalton boys. He just wanted to sit and talk with people who didn't treat him like he'd been bullied and had his life threatened, but just that he was Kurt Hummel. That was _all he wanted_, to be treated like _Kurt Hummel_.

Kurt whirled around and stormed from the room. He let the door bang against the wall and slam shut, creating more noise than was decent at that time of night.

"Kurt?" the Dalton boys who were milling around outside leapt with shock as Kurt came storming from the room.

"Kurt!" he could hear footsteps running after. He sniffed, trying hard to not start crying. "Kurt _stop_!" Kurt came to a halt when he had reached the door to the grounds, he breathed deeply, blinking hard. "Kurt what happened?" he could feel Blaine's hand on his shoulder, and he turned around, blinking. "Oh, Kurt…" said Blaine, a sadness in his eyes. "What happened?"

"Dad wants me to _leave_." Blaine nodded, swallowing.

"We thought that might be the case." he said, sadly, bracing both of Kurt's shoulders with his hands. Kurt breathed deeply, fighting the urge to rage and storm. Blaine gave him a small smile. "Something else?" he asked. "You look…_angry._" Kurt closed his eyes.

"I'm _sick_ of my dad treating me like I'm going to fall apart at any second. I don't want to be chased out of my second high school in a _month_! I…I just…I feel like…"

"You're _not_ a coward, Kurt." said Blaine seriously, looking right into his eyes, and sending Kurt's mind spinning. "Trust me, you _are not_ a coward. If you want a coward, look at me." Kurt frowned.

"What do you mean?" Blaine sighed, squeezing Kurt's shoulders.

"I'm going to ask you a personal question, okay?" Kurt nodded. "Did you ever consider killing yourself?" Kurt froze. Wow that _was_ personal, but it was also easy to answer.

"No." he said, shaking his head.

"Why not?" Kurt almost shrugged.

"I had my dad, and the glee club, and I just…" he shrugged, knocking Blaine's hands off by accident. "I don't know, I just didn't, really." Blaine nodded, looking at the floor.

"Well, I did…I _tried_, and worst of all, I wasn't strong enough to do it _properly_." Kurt covered his mouth with one hand at the news, and the self-loathing in his voice.

"Blaine…" Blaine shook his head, wiping his eyes.

"I just- I couldn't see the point, Kurt. I woke up _every day_, scared. I jumped at every little noise. My dad wasn't looking me in the eye. I was in _pain_…and Garth…" he broke off, pinching his nose. "his dad blamed _me_ because I came out, and then he followed my lead…I mean, everyone knew he was gay, but he hadn't _said it_ until me…he blamed me for his state because _I_ asked _him_ to the dance…" Blaine broke off, trying and struggling to keep himself together.

"Blaine, I'm so-"

"Don't say you're sorry, Kurt, because you had nothing to do with this…but I _failed_…I just- I _couldn't_ go back to my old school…" he closed his eyes, shaking his head. "I had these pills, some for pain and some to help me sleep, and I just took a load…I don't really remember anything, but I woke up in hospital with Emily and she told me I was going to Dalton…and my dad told me I was selfish, and that Anna and Meg were already upset as it was…he told me that I wasn't a man anymore, because I couldn't even face up to my own problems. He told me that it was _my fault_ that I came out of the closet, and got all this bullying, and that I should have been able to take it." Kurt found himself almost crying, wiping a hand across his face.

"Blaine, that's not true…you didn't _choose_." Blaine nodded.

"I know, I know that _now_, but then…" he shook his head. "Kurt, you're not weak, I don't think you're weak. You've withstood so much, and you just have to remember that. You also need to remember that your dad _loves you_, Kurt. He sent you here to protect you." Kurt nodded. "He's just…Kurt, being gay is not easy…Keats, Charles and I are all proof of that." Kurt nodded. "He's trying to protect you, Kurt, and you should just be happy about that…but, of course, Kurt, we're teenagers, we disagree with our parents." Kurt nodded, sniffing.

_How did he become so…__**wise**? __I swear, talking to Blaine is like talking to a therapist or something…far better than the school counsellor. He's also opened my eyes…I really thought I had it bad at McKinley, but what Blaine went through…at least it all stopped at the school gates for me. I was safe at home, dad always made sure that - that's why he threw Finn out…I guess I should appreciate that. _

"Thank you." said Kurt, and Blaine reached up and hugged him. Kurt was a little taken aback, but soon revelled in the feeling of warmth as Blaine's chest pressed against his.

"You looked like you needed one." said Blaine when he'd stepped back, far too soon for Kurt's liking. "And just remember, you don't need to thank me, Kurt. I'll be here for you because you're my friend, and I _really_ like you…that's what friends are for." Kurt sniffed again, smiling at him.

"Okay, right, I will remember."

"Kurt?" Kurt looked passed Blaine, and blinked at the sight of his father. Kurt had been so wrapped up in talking to Blaine, and the revelation that Blaine had tried to kill himself, that he hadn't noticed, or heard, his father walk up to them. Kurt stepped around Blaine and hugged his dad.

"I'm sorry, dad…I just don't want to leave." Burt nodded, pressing his son against his shoulder.

"It's okay, son, but I want you to come this weekend, and on Monday we'll make our decision." Kurt nodded, looking unhappy, and followed his dad down the corridor back towards the other Dalton boys.

When they got there, Kurt was surprised to find that they were all still standing there, waiting for him. Juri ran over and gave him a hug, and Chris, Drew and Fred patted him on the back. Nick and Jeff both hugged him tightly whilst David and Flint patted his arm, and Thad gave him a smile and touched his shoulder gently. Keats' friends, standing to one side, were less touchy feely, simply nodding at him or clapping him on the shoulder, but Keats took his hand - he saw Blaine and Burt shift out of the corner of his eye - and hugged him.

"Are you okay?" asked Keats, holding both of Kurt's hands in his own.

"I'm fine, I'm just going away for the weekend." Keats nodded.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you." It was only the calming affect of Keats' grey eyes that stopped him from wrenching his hands back in a rush of anger.

"I don't _need_ protecting, Keats." Keats nodded, bowing his head in a sign of humility.

"I'm sorry, that came out wrong." Kurt sighed.

"It's okay…I get that you're trying to be nice." he smiled at his friend. "I have to go." He squeezed, Keats' hands before letting go. He moved over to Trinity, holding up a finger to stop his dad coming over to him.

"Kurt, we thought that-"

"-you knew Charles and-"

"-you were friends!" Kurt waved it away.

"It's okay, just…does Blaine know?" the three of them stared at him, eyebrows rising in sync, and Kurt groaned. "About how I feel!" They shook their heads at once. Kurt sighed, a troubled, unsure, look appear on his face, and all their heads tilted to the left in a questioning manner. "It's just…Charles said he was acting."

"Liar."

"Idiot."

"Ignoramus." Kurt smiled slightly, looking at them.

"You better be telling the truth."

"Constantly."

"Forever."

"Always." Kurt laughed, and waved to them.

"I'll see you on Monday." he walked over to his dad who was standing with Finn and Carole, and making polite conversation with Blaine.

_I guess it's time to go home…at least this way I get to see the other members of the New Directions. I was seriously about to drop out of contact with them, or something. I've only texted Mercedes a handful of times since I got here, after all._

* * *

"Blaine." the dapper boy stopped as Kurt was engulfed by the other Dalton boys, and turned to look at Kurt's father with wide eyes.

"Yes, sir?"

"Thanks for what you said to Kurt." Blaine shrugged, not sure how much of the conversation Mr Hummel had over heard.

"It was nothing…I just," he shrugged, looking mildly dejected. "Kurt's a good person…he deserves to be happy, and he doesn't need the kind of crap…" Burt nodded.

"Too right, he doesn't." There was an awkward moment, and both of them shifted as they saw Keats take Kurt's hands. Burt frowned. "Who is that?" Blaine blinked, half shrugged.

"Keats." he said, half calmly.

"Is he…what are his intentions towards my son?" Blaine bit down on the inside of his lip, not quite sure what to say. Seeing as he, himself, wasn't entirely sure what Keats "_intentions_" were it was quite hard to put it into words that wouldn't anger Burt Hummel, or damage Kurt's chances of returning to Dalton Academy.

"They're friends." he settled with, eventually. "I don't know Keats that well." _Lie_, went the little voice in his mind, but he ignored it, hoping that it wouldn't come back to haunt him.

"I see…he seems…" Burt seemed to struggle for the right word, but stopped glaring when Kurt let go of his hands.

"Keats likes…holding hands…that's how he gives comfort, I think." Burt nodded, shifting from foot to foot.

"So…you play Football?" he questioned as Kurt moved away from Trinity.

"Yes, I'm a kicker…I'm not really the right build for the game in motion." Burt nodded.

"Yeah, Kurt played kicker for McKinley." Blaine nodded, a small smile on his face.

"Yes, he told me." Kurt came over and Blaine smiled at him along with the rest of his family.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your stint on the Football team."

"We were just about to mention _Single Ladies_." said Finn with smirk. Kurt glowered at his step brother, and Blaine looked between them in interest.

"_Single Ladies_? You mean the song, right?" Kurt groaned, sinking his head into his hand. "_What_?" demanded Blaine, as he began to escort the family towards the parking lot, looking completely fascinated.

"I don't know why you're so embarrassed, Kurt, it was _your_ idea, _and_ you didn't actually dance in front of the spectators." Kurt just shook his head, and Blaine had a very amused look on his face as Burt chuckled.

"I'm always sorry that I missed that." said Carole, as they reached the car and Blaine glanced between the two brothers with a frown.

"Did you _dance Single Ladies_ in front of your school?"

"Yes," said Finn. "Kurt taught it to us, and we did it to shock them…we won the game because of it." Blaine frowned.

"Hmm, maybe we should bare that in mind." he gave Kurt one more charming smile as Kurt glared at his step-brother, clearly embarrassed.

"I'll see you soon." said Blaine, giving his upper arm a pat. The family got into the car, and Blaine waved them off. They'd driven out of the grounds, and Blaine was beginning to shiver when he realised that Kurt was still wearing his scarf and hat, and had Blaine's blazer around his shoulders, still.

He felt two arms work their way around his waist, and knew that it was Sebastian. He didn't say anything, and Blaine guessed that he was savouring his victory; Sebastian knew that if anything kicked off again, like he thought it would, Keats would go.

"I gave you that scarf." he said in an even tone. "I hope you have plans on getting that back." Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Of course I do…it's my most treasured possession."

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Blaine." Blaine opened his mouth, and struggled to come up with a decent comeback, one that didn't make him sound quite so pathetic because he _really_ liked the scarf. "We need to go back to the house." he said. Blaine took his hand, and they walked in silence together, but Blaine suddenly realised that Sebastian was angry about something.

"What's wrong?" he asked, abruptly. "Something's _really_ upsetting you." Sebastian turned to face him full on, frowning.

"Kurt was barely hurt," he began bluntly. "but you…" he shook his head. "Thad was right, it was just a threat to get us to stop fighting…" Blaine dropped his hand, frowning.

"But he _expelled_, Charles...?"

"Yes, _because_ we put pressure on him. Lloyd and Booth were both in the room then…they saw what happened." he shook his head. "It's ridiculous." a sneer had appeared on his face, and Blaine couldn't think of anything to say because he made a good point.

"Look, because he expelled Charles, he has to hold the bar, right? I mean, if anything happens…" he shrugged, thinking that it was opposite. Sebastian shook his head, looking at him pityingly.

"_Any_ physical harm…remember David?" Blaine put a hand over his mouth.

"But, Kurt…"

"No _sign_ of what Kurt did, why do you think that Hammonds didn't chase up the kiss? No evidence." Blaine sighed, biting the inside of his bottom lip.

"Right, you're right…still, if we don't fight back…" Sebastian gave him a condescending look, and turned away. Blaine sighed, shivering in his cardigan and ran after him. Sebastian looked him up and down. He rolled his eyes, stripping off his own blazer and proffering it to him. Blaine shook his head.

"No we're nearly there."

"Just take it Blaine." Blaine looked at him before grinning and taking it from him, slipping it over his shoulders.

"Thank you." Sebastian didn't give any kind of response, and Blaine sighed, not really sure what to say to him.

* * *

_Our plans for us to get a new house where we all have a room have been put on hold, thanks to me going to Dalton. I'm sharing a room with Finn, again, but I think it'll work out, this time…Last night we didn't talk because I fell asleep in the back of the car, it'd been a long day, and I don't quite know how I got into the house. What I do know is that I woke up in my cheerleading uniform, face planted firmly into a pillow and Finn crashing around in the background._

Kurt groaned, raising himself from the pillow, and running a hand over his face, feeling grimy and dirty because he'd gone to bed without showering, and his clothes smelt.

"_Finn_!" he groaned, rolling onto his back. "What are you _doing_?" the loud tramping sounds stopped, and Finn looked over at him, blinking.

"Oh, you're awake." Kurt sat up, shoving off the covers, and examining the white socks on his feet.

"Yes, _now_." Finn held up his hands.

"Sorry, I just couldn't find my phone…I thought it might go off and wake you up." Kurt grumbled, unintelligibly, as he peeled the socks from his feet with a revolted expression on his face. "You can use the bathroom, now." his step-brother said, as he sent a pile of papers toppling to the floor.

"Good." said Kurt stepping onto the floor, and surveying the room. "and when I come back I want this all cleared up." Finn rolled his eyes, but Kurt just glowered at him, not allowing him any room for argument.

Kurt was pleasantly surprised that, when he came back into his room wrapped in a fluffy dressing gown and looking for clean clothes, it had been tidied. He stored the information that Finn obeyed at the sight of his most fearsome glare, figuring that it would come useful as they were now brothers.

He was a little annoyed to find that all his skin care products were still at Dalton as were quite a lot of his favourite clothes. He hadn't really had plans on coming home so soon, and, as he examined his closet, he saw a Dalton blazer hanging up. He took it down, a small frown on his face. It was Blaine's. Kurt took if off the hanger, holding it carefully. The scarf tumbled to the floor, and Kurt noticed one of the pockets was bulging, and the beginnings of a hat poked out. He sighed, stooping to pick up the scarf.

He moved to his bed, sitting down and looking at the articles of clothing in his hands. He ran his hands over the soft, red, material of the scarf. He could still feel Blaine's soft hands against his own, taking away the cold. He could still hear all the things he'd said. All the little comments about how brave Kurt was. How he'd stunned all the homophobic people of Garfield into silence. How much he respected Kurt.

Kurt sniffed, deeply, and dropped his head into his hands, burying his face in the soft material of the scarf. He didn't know what was wrong with him, but he knew that he was shaking. Shaking from _something_. He didn't know whether he was angry, or upset, or just something else that hadn't even occurred to him yet.

"Kurt?" Kurt jumped, shooting upright and glaring at his step-brother.

"_Jesus, Finn_, haven't you heard of _knocking_?" Finn looked slightly hurt and taken aback by Kurt's tone of voice, but Kurt didn't have it in him to feel bad about that. He sniffed, trying to hide the fact that he was tearing up.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. What do you want?"

"I came to say that breakfast is ready…Kurt, you look really sad." Kurt didn't have time to tell Finn to mind his own business because his new brother had sat down next to him on the bed. "Is this about what happened yesterday?" Kurt sniffed and shrugged.

"I don't know, I just-" he broke off, shaking his head, and Finn put an arm around his shoulder.

"I meant what I said at the wedding, Kurt, I got your back, _no matter what_, and I'd have pounded that guy if your friend hadn't been holding me back." Kurt sniffed, rolling his eyes, and leaning against Finn's shoulder.

"Violence isn't always the answer, Finn." Finn half shrugged, before realising that would dislodge Kurt's head.

"Yeah, well, it's what guys like me, with little brain, are good for." Kurt smiled at him.

"You're not _just_ good for beating up people, Finn." Finn almost shrugged again.

"Yeah, well, thanks." Kurt frowned to himself, considering his position against Finn, and wondering just what had changed to make his heart not race as Finn held him like that. He guessed the revelation of his true colours in his basement had been good at disillusioning Finn in his eyes, but he'd come so far since then. He guessed that Blaine had a lot to do with that. Grey eyes flashed across the vision of Blaine in his inner eye. He blinked.

"Does this make you uncomfortable?" Finn frowned.

"What?"

"You and me." He felt Finn shift his shoulder, and he looked up at his puzzled face. Kurt rolled his eyes. "This; me with my head on your shoulder, us sharing a room." Finn sighed, sitting back and putting his hands on Kurt's shoulder, staring at him with a frown, but an intent look on his face.

"I screwed up, Kurt, last year…" he sighed. "I'm not going to deny that you having a crush on me made me _so_ uncomfortable, but I didn't _mean_ to call you anything, or upset you…and you really have shown me _so much_ about what it means to be a man, and what being brave is, and if anyone deserves to be happy it's you." Kurt smiled at his step-brother, feeling tension release from his body.

"But, when I was trying to teach you how to dance you were so awkward." Finn sighed again.

"I've had _loads_ of time to think, and I danced with you at the wedding…but, I just- to be frank, I _really_ missed you, Kurt. It's kind of weird living in this house with my mum and Burt, and it's like you're missing. I want to do this _right_, Kurt, 'cause I've messed up a lot…with Rachel, Santana, glee club…I don't wanna mess up with you, _again_." Kurt smiled at him, tears in his eyes. Finn reached forward and hugged him, patting him on the back as Kurt let out a couple of tears of relief.

"Oh god," said Kurt, wiping his eyes. "I swear that I have cried more in the past couple of weeks than in the rest of my life." Finn raised an eyebrow.

"Why? I mean, what was making you cry at Dalton?" Kurt shrugged.

"I think they were just residual tears, like these." he added, sniffing and wiping them away. "It's been a whirlwind." he shook his head. Finn frowned.

"You know Dalton?" Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Finn, I do."

"Are you…do you really like going there?" Kurt frowned at him, considering the question, before nodding.

"Yeah, yeah I do." Finn nodded.

"Cool, 'cause I know that Burt's not that keen on you going back, but if you really want to go back, I'll help you." Kurt grinned at him.

"Thank you, Finn." Kurt reached forward and hugged his brother, again.

"You know," said Finn, getting to his feet, and Kurt decided, because he was so hungry, he was just going to have breakfast in his dressing gown today, "I'm sorry I missed your performance, did you _really_ perform Taio Cruz?" Kurt laughed.

"Yes, yes I did." Finn began to laugh again.

"I totally _didn't_ believe them! I _seriously_ thought your friends were joking!" Kurt shook his head.

"No, unfortunately Coach Met was not to be swayed on her song choice." Burt and Carole nodded at the boys as they came in, Burt rolling his eyes at his son's attire.

"How do you feel this morning, Kurt? You looked absolutely shattered." Kurt smiled at Carole as him and Finn were poured coffee.

"Better, now. The shower did me good."

"Mercedes called." said Burt sitting down too. "She wants to know if you'll meet up with them." Kurt nodded.

"Yeah, 'course, when?"

"She said _Breadstixs_, one o'clock." Kurt nodded again, not looking forward to telling the New Directions what had happened.

"Do they- do they _know_?" The two adults looked at Finn who shook his head vigorously.

"No, I didn't tell them…I figured only Kurt should tell anyone." Kurt smiled up at his step-brother, guessing that he was, _really_, trying to do the right thing now.

_I can't really describe how important this is for me…I guess it's the feeling that I __**really**__ have a __**family**__… It's not just me relying on my dad, and being afraid to tell him things in case he gets angry. It's me with Carole, who is really mild and won't get angry, and Finn who, whilst not being the brightest, has his heart in the right place…I guess I just really feel __**safe**__ at home._

* * *

"Blaine, you're not allowed to leave Franklin." Blaine barely glanced at Keats as he sat down at his table. The other four boys looked at him warily, and Juri began to chew his fingernails in a nervous manner as he sat next to Blaine.

"Luc managed to get me out because I want to talk to Hammonds." Keats frowned at Blaine, not liking the fact that he'd just sat himself down at his table with Juri.

"Oh, that's wonderful," he replied, sarcasm heavy in his voice to hide any unease, "and I care, why?" Blaine sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Kurt." he said, simply, leaning his right ankle onto top of his left leg. "We both want Kurt back." Keats nodded, putting down his knife and fork, suddenly interested.

"Yes, yes we do, but I don't see how that leads you to be sitting at my table." Blaine sighed as if despairing at Keats' intelligence, a feat that occurred much more regularly the other way around.

"Because we're going to go and talk to Mr Hummel." Keats stared at Blaine for half a second longer, deciding that he was being serious before snorting, loudly.

"Yeah, right, Blaine." Blaine frowned, glancing at Juri who also looked confused.

"What?" Keats rolled his eyes, a condescending expression coming onto his face, and his grey eyes laughing at Blaine's expense.

"Well, you see, Blaine, there are several things wrong with that… The first, is the fact that you're under house arrest, _and_ I doubt you could talk Hammonds into letting you get off campus, and, secondly, this is _you_ and _me_…we hate each other, and we can't have a civil conversation. We'd only succeed in convincing him _not_ to send Kurt back." Blaine sighed, eyeing up his former friend.

"I think I might be able to worm my way into a _day_ off campus, with Luc's help, but the other one comes down to us… I'm prepared to put aside what happened, briefly, if it means getting Kurt back, what about you?" Blaine proffered his hand across the table, and Keats stared at it, considering the situation carefully. The challenge didn't need to be spoken because Keats heard it loud and clear.

_This is how much I care about Kurt, what about you?_

He reached across and shook Blaine's outstretched hand, briefly. The two boys retracted their hands swiftly, and Keats' four friends stared at them, mouths hanging open and eyes wide. Juri looked a little shocked, as if he had not expected Keats to agree, and Blaine was just smiling in his charming manner, not giving away anything that was going on inside his head.

"Come on, Juri." he said, getting to his feet. The Russian followed him, almost tumbling over the bench, and Blaine helped him round, daring the five boys on the other side to laugh at him. None of them did.

"Wait." said Keats, voice imperious. "I wasn't finished telling you why you were stupid." Blaine stopped, hand on Juri's shoulder.

"Go on, then." Keats sighed, standing up and coming round to stand in front of Blaine.

"Well, for one, what pretence do you have of being there? And you don't _know_ that Hammonds will let you off, but you won't let me go alone, I know that, so what's you back-up plan?" Blaine sighed, taking his hand off Juri's shoulder and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Me and Juri are going together." he said, calmly. "Juri said that Kurt might want his skin products. If Hammonds doesn't let me go, then Juri and you go." Keats shook his head.

"Nope, I'm not going with Juri." The electric eyes flashed, sparking with hurt and anger. Blaine let out an angry puff of air.

"Why?" Keats snorted, rolling his grey eyes.

"_Because_ I'm not going to waste my time babysitting him." Blaine had to dig his hand, painfully, into Juri's shoulder to stop either of them loosing their temper.

"Take it or leave it, _Keats_, his dad doesn't like you so you're not going to be able to do _squat_ on your own." Keats bristled at the accusation, but acknowledged that Blaine _had_ been talking to Kurt's father last night, _and_ they'd both been looking at him.

"Alright."

"Good, you need to come with me to Hammonds, _now_." Keats blinked.

"Why?"

"To show that we've put our differences behind us." Keats looked at his friends, briefly, who nodded with faint shrugs, and then shoved his nose into the air.

"I am _not_ doing this because I like you."

"I figured _that_ much out for myself, _thanks_." The three of them began to walk towards Hammonds' office. There was a tense silence, and Blaine kept a firm grip on Juri's arm, knowing that they didn't need any _more_ tension between them; tension that would be generated if Juri fell and Keats made a derogatory comment.

They rounded the corner to Hammonds' office and saw Luc, red hair messy and dressed in tight jeans and a flowered shirt, sitting and talking to Mrs Aarons. He spun around, almost loosing his balance, at the sound of footsteps. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of Keats, but swaggered over with his normal casual air.

"So, into the lion's mouth?" he asked, and Blaine rolled his eyes. Luc was completely the _wrong_ person to ask for help because he had a habit of making him feel _worse_, but he was probably the only one that would help him. Blaine didn't really have room to be picky, though, because, whilst he was a model students in many areas, a house arrest was a _bad_ thing to have on record.

They entered Hammonds' office slowly, and Hammonds looked up, tired, and blinked a little bit faster when he saw that Keats was standing by Blaine's shoulder. He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, and beckoning them into the seats in front of his desk.

"If you've been fighting…" he said, in a threatening voice, and they all shook their heads furiously, whilst Luc just sat on a table looking casual. "Okay, then, why are you here?" Blaine took a deep breath, glancing at Juri and Keats, before talking.

"I need permission to leave campus." Hammonds stared at him, incredulously. He ran a hand over his face, and Blaine felt his heart sink. Hammonds was going to say no.

"Do you understand the point of house arrest?" he asked, slowly. Blaine nodded. "Then _why_ would I give you permission?" Blaine sighed, looking at his hands. He met Hammonds' eyes, again, nervously.

"Because we're worried about Kurt," he said, slowly. "he wasn't…_happy_ last night…I'm just- I want to check up on him, and I _know_ that I could send someone else, but I'm meant to be orientating him." he said the last bit very fast with a hint of desperation in his voice. Hammonds nodded, gaze passing over Juri, and settling on Keats.

"Why are you here? You don't need my permission." Keats shifted, seemingly considering how best to answer.

"Because I'm worried about Kurt too, and I'm a close friend, but I think he'd be more…_partial_ to opening up to Blaine because he…_understands_ better." Hammonds' eyes darted between the two of them, looking just a little bit impressed.

"Luc?" The man jumped, slightly. He shrugged, sliding off the table, and leaning against Juri's chair.

"I think Keats' right…oh, never thought I'd say that…anyway, in Kurt's eyes Blaine is probably the only person who understands him." he shrugged. "I think he needs to talk to him, now." Hammonds nodded, leaning back in his chair, contemplating his decision.

* * *

_I can't decide whether or not I want to tell them. I'm sitting with Finn in one of the booths in Breadstixs and I'm waiting for them to arrive. Finn is being super supportive, maybe a little over the top, but it's sweet. I guess it's good none of them know about Karofsky. I hope they don't explode __**too**__ much. _

"Kurt!" Kurt got out of his seat to hug the stream of New Directioners that came into the restaurant. He was warmly welcomed by the guys, who hadn't seen him since he'd walked out of the rehearsal saying he had to go. He also shook hands with Lauren Zizes, who he recognised, and was shocked to discover was his replacement.

"What are you doing back?" asked Mercedes, fixing him with a stare. "And have you bought _another _scarf?" Kurt blushed slightly when she brought up Blaine's scarf, which he was still wearing. He liked it, it was soft and warm, and it was comforting.

"It's kind of a long story why I'm back, but the scarf is Blaine's." the girls all looked at him with wide eyes, and Kurt rolled his eyes. "He leant it to me when I was cold." There were some raised eyebrows from the guys, but the girls all began to squeal and giggle. Kurt shook his head. "He was just being nice, and he's got a boyfriend…" he shook his head, half glancing at Finn who smiled at him, gently.

"So, are you going to tell us why you're back?" asked Rachel, after silence had settled on them for a little while. "Not that we're not glad to see you, or anything." Kurt nodded, taking a deep breath.

"I'm not sure I'm going back to Dalton." the New Directions gasped as what, and then there was an explosion of "_what?_"s and "_why?_"s. Kurt made shushing gestures with his hands. "Some _stuff_ happened, and my dad's kind of angry. I mean, I want to go back, and hopefully I will, but…" he shrugged, taking a deep breath. "Yesterday we had this _huge_ Football game against Garfield Academy, I think we're arch-rivals, anyway…It was all good, and I performed with the cheerleaders, but we lost, and after that I was in the dressing room when this other Warbler came in…"

It took Kurt about ten minutes to recount what had happened in the locker rooms with Charles because the New Directions kept interjecting angrily. Puck and Sam had actually gotten to their feet when Kurt had said that he'd been shoved into the lockers and showed them the bruises on his arm. The girls had looked horrified, and Mercedes had a dark look on her face. Finn had put a comforting hand on his back, and Kurt had ploughed on, choking when he told them that he'd been kissed.

Again there'd been a furious outburst. Several people had knocked their drinks over, and Mercedes and Santana had got up along with the guys. It had taken a lot of pleading, and pointing out that he had _no idea_ where Charles was now, to get them to calm down and sit down. They'd done so rather grudgingly, Santana muttering about "_Lima Heights_" and other people looking angry and upset for him. It nearly made him cry because there had been times when he'd been _so sure_ that they didn't care about him. Karofsky was lucky Kurt had been too afraid to tell them about that kiss because he would be so dead.

After that, Kurt had rushed through what had happened next. There had been appreciative nods when Kurt told them that he'd kneed him between the legs, and he'd ploughed through the description of what he could remember from being on the field, the others now understanding why he was wearing Blaine's scarf, and he skimmed over the two hour wait with Blaine and Juri. They had cheered when Kurt had explained that Charles had been expelled, and were suitably confused about the marriage thing.

Kurt stopped talking after that, not wanting to tell them about everything Blaine had said to him. Finn had taken the pressure off Kurt, much to his gratitude, by recounting the story of what Kurt's friends had said about him performing _Dynamite_ which caused Rachel to give him scandalised looks, and the others to laugh and demand, only half jokingly, that he give them a rendition.

Kurt was thankful that they all seemed to have picked up on his desire to not discuss what had happened in great detail, as Puck began to recount the tale of how he'd recruited Lauren, with unenthusiastic commentary from Lauren. Kurt felt a bit bad about him being laid on by the Football team, but Lauren's comments about it being the worst "_seven minutes in heaven __**ever**_", whilst not being things he particularly needed to hear, were amusing nonetheless.

_I love the New Directions to the bottom of my heart. They're all __**so**__ supportive of me, and I guess this just shows that - past all the insults and backstabbing - we __**really**__ love each other. I guess, it's akin to never knowing what you've got till it's gone. I never realised how much I loved these guys until we're competing __**against**__ each other, that won't stop me from trying to crush them at Regionals though. If I make it there…_

* * *

Burt opened the door, frowning and hoping that the boys hadn't forgotten their keys in the rush to meet up with the New Directions. He blinked at the sight on the doorstep because it was not Finn or Kurt, but Blaine, Juri and _Keats_. He blinked at the boys on the doorstep, momentarily thrown by the lack of school uniform, and the fact that two of them were carrying boxes.

"Um, Kurt's not in right now." They glanced at each other. Blaine blinked, not sure what to say next.

"Right, well, we just…Juri said that Kurt might want his skin care products." he adjusted his grip on the box in his arms. "but he had so many…" Blaine tried to shrug. "We just thought it would be safer to bring them all."

"That, and ve vished to see him." Burt nodded.

"Well, come in…I know that Kurt's…_products_ are confusing…I'm surprised you decided to touch them, I was sure that ended in death." Blaine glared at Juri.

"_Juri_, you didn't tell us that!"

"I vas never zreatened." he said, looking bemused. Blaine shook his head, making his way into their living room and setting down the boxes. Keats flexed his fingers.

"Those things are heavy." he complained. Blaine rolled his eyes, and Juri stumbled in this unfamiliar setting.

"Can I sit Juri down, before he damages himself, or something else?" Burt blinked at Blaine, surprised by the politeness, and nodded.

"Yeah, sure, take a seat." The three boys sat down on the sofa, Juri in the middle, looking a little uncomfortable. "So, I can't say when Kurt'll be back, he went out to meet the New Directions an hour ago, I could text him?"

"No," said Blaine instantly. "we just wanted to drop this off, and see how he was…and have you got my blazer 'cause I only have two?" Burt nodded.

"Yeah, it'll be up in Kurt and Finn's room, somewhere…should probably wait for him to get back…he doesn't like people poking around in his things." Blaine nodded.

"Of course." There was an awkward pause. Burt walked back into the room properly, and took a seat, examining the three boys who all looked very clean and presentable.

"What are things like at Dalton?" asked Burt, frowning at the boys. They looked between each other, shrugging.

"Shocked." said Blaine, eventually. "All the Warblers just…" he shook his head. "Alvin's taking it hard, but they were close…" he shrugged. "I think it's going to take a little while to sink in." Keats nodded.

"Harriot's…the feeling there is a bit… _numb._" Burt frowned.

"Harriot?"

"My house, Charles' old one." Burt nodded.

"I see."

"No one's saying that he didn't deserve it, but…it's just a shock to the system. No one's been expelled since we were all at Dalton."

"Luc told me that no one was expelled in his four years either." said Blaine, shrugging. "I guess no one thought Hammonds would follow through." he glanced at Keats, and the awkwardness of the situation began to settle on him. Charles was only expelled _because_ of everything that had happened in Freshman year. If Hammonds hadn't had to have dropped the ultimatum on them, Charles probably would have been suspended _at best_. Juri shifted uncomfortable, edging towards Blaine slightly.

"So, what happened?" There were frowns on the three boys' faces. "The way your head boy was talking about it made it sound like something _bad_ happened…" Blaine bit the inside of his bottom lip, not counting on Burt being so perceptive. He glanced at Keats whose grey eyes had grown calculating. Blaine swallowed, feeling uncomfortable and remembering what David had said to him early that week.

"There was a lot of fighting." said Keats, finally. Blaine nodded.

"It's the reason our PDA rules are so strict…" he sighed. "You'd think that being an all boys school there'd be less…_drama_, but there really isn't…and we're guys and ninety-five per cent of us prefer to speak with our fists when we get _really_ angry or jealous, you know what I mean?" Keats had sunk his head into his hand at Blaine's words, but Burt nodded.

"So... it was just normal fist fights?" Blaine nodded.

"Yeah, but, you know, there were broken noses…whatever, and Hammonds thought it was…_unbecoming_ so he made it clear that it would not be tolerated. The only place it's allowed is somewhere like fight club 'cause you don't have a choice." Keats was staring at Blaine like he was some sort of idiot. Burt stared at Blaine like he wasn't whether he should laugh or not.

"So what were you saying about PDA rules?" asked Burt, eventually, keen to find out as much about Dalton as he could.

"Oh, Dalton has strict rules on that," said Keats confidently. "the most you can get away with in the halls is, probably, arm around the shoulders."

"Yeah, that's the rule…but if there's no one around…" Blaine shrugged and Keats glared at him, clearly thinking that it was a complete mistake to bring Blaine with them to help convince Burt that Dalton was a good place for Kurt. Keats sighed.

"Sir, um, there's something I want to ask you about Kurt." Blaine sat bolt upright, eyes going wide.

"Keats, come with me for a second." he said, snatching onto the cuff of Keats' pale blue shirt. Blaine dragged Keats from the room. Burt looked at Juri who simply shrugged.

"I do not know vat zat vas about…we should leave zem." he nodded, succinctly, and seconds later began to fiddle with his hands, and Burt shifted and strained to hear what Blaine and Keats were talking about.

"Are you _insane_?" demanded Blaine, closing the door to the bathroom that he'd found and stuffed them in. Keats pushed Blaine out of his personal space, running a hand through his wavy hair.

"I could ask _you_ the same thing, what the hell were you thinking, telling him we got into fights?"

"Well, what was I _supposed_ to do? You weren't exactly that explicit."

"Yes, because it would only damage our chances."

"Oh, and you think asking somebody as protective of their son as Mr Hummel _that_ after what had happened yesterday, won't?" Keats clenched his hands into fists, clearly trying to not hit Blaine. He breathed in deeply several times, clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Okay, okay, I won't mention it now, but _only_ because it's what best for Kurt, not because you told me not to, understand?"

"Wouldn't dare think of anything other." Keats ran a hand back through his hair.

"This isn't working." he said, through gritted teeth. "This _really_ isn't working." Blaine frowned, leaning against the sink. Keats caught the look on his face. "_Don't_ ask what, Blaine. I swear, if you do I won't be able to restrain myself." Blaine held up his hands, before bracing himself against the sink again.

"Yeah, well, don't blame me." Keats glared at him, and Blaine sighed heavily. "Right, okay, can we just focus on Kurt?" Keats nodded.

"Right, but you can't expect me to forget…" Blaine threw his hands up to the ceiling.

"_You_ attacked _me_, Keats, and no amount of "_emotional pain_" is going to change that. You hit me _first_." Keats crossed his arms across his chest, leaning against the wall.

"Yeah, and it felt good." Blaine nodded.

"Happy to get that off your chest?" he questioned. Keats smirked.

"Been waiting far too long to say it." Blaine nodded.

"Good, good…"

"Now, that we're reading off the same page, can we go back in there and rectify the damage done by our sudden departure, and leaving _Juri_ alone with Mr Hummel." Keats moved to the door, and Blaine put his hand over the handle.

"Wait." Keats rolled his eyes.

"Okay, I'm sorry for what I insinuated about Juri." Blaine nodded, noting the small victory down in the back of his mind.

"You should be, but I want to know how we explain our sudden disappearance, and what your question was." Keats just smiled and patted his arm in a condescending manner.

"Don't worry, Blaine, I have it all sorted out." Blaine nodded, opening the door, and indicating with a look of forced politeness that Keats should leave first. Keats walked out, and Blaine straightened his bowtie before following him. They walked back into the sitting room, both surprised to find Mr Hummel and Juri laughing. They retook their seats either side of Juri, and sat awkwardly until they stopped laughing.

"Yep, kid, that sounds like my Kurt." Juri chuckled, but shot Blaine a worried look with his intense eyes.

"What are we talking about?" asked Keats, leaning back into the sofa.

"How I now tidy my room…I have less injuries now." Blaine patted Juri on the back.

"I'm sure you do, Juri. Now, if Kurt can just get you to look in your peripheral vision we'll know he was truly sent from heaven as your guardian angel." Burt chuckled at that, wondering what Kurt would think if he heard them calling him an angel. Then it sunk in. This kid had just called _his_ an angel. That was either a good thing, or a _very bad_ one. He glanced between the two boys that had just disappeared.

"So, what did you want to ask me?" he said, focusing on the one he disliked more. Keats cleared his throat.

"I was wondering if there was anything in particular we can do to _comfort_ Kurt?" Burt stared at him, blankly. "Well, for example, if I get upset, and I don't want people to make a big deal about it, my friends make me hot chocolate." Blaine nodded, catching on.

"And when I get upset, Thad prods me on the back…just to let me know that he's there and I can talk to him if I want to." Mr Hummel nodded. He then shook his head.

"No, I can't think of anything like that for Kurt, he was always an independent child…especially after his mother passed away." There were sad nods from the other boys.

"Okay, well, it was just a thought…" he scratched the back of his head, glancing at Blaine who gave him the briefest "okay-one-point-to-you" look before turning to Juri who was looking mildly quizzical.

"So, um, Mr Hummel, are you coming to the concert?" asked Blaine, searching for a topic of conversation that wouldn't do any damage to their chances of helping Kurt. Burt scratched his head.

"Yeah, yeah, we were going to go. The Warblers are performing, right?" Blaine nodded.

"Yes, yes we are."

"And it said something about solos?" Blaine nodded.

"Yes, there's around twelve of us…myself and Juri included." Burt nodded.

"I'm surprised Kurt didn't audition, he loves singing solo." Blaine shifted in his seat.

"Actually Kurt wanted to audition, but he couldn't…" Burt frowned, deeply, at Blaine's words, looking confused and a little annoyed. Blaine sighed. "There's this unspoken rule that nobody can perform a solo at a concert unless they have their crest."

"Crest?"

"You know the little box that Charles handed to Dr Booth?" asked Keats, breaking into the conversation. Burt nodded. "That contained the house crest, Kurt will get his at the concert because he's performing as a Warbler." Burt nodded in confused understanding, leaning back and allowing them to talk about Dalton, considering each word carefully.

* * *

_I had a great time with the New Directions…They've been filling me in on all the drama of McKinley and how they're looking forward to Christmas. They've got plans to celebrate with Mr Schue, and sing carols round the school, not that anyone's too excited about the second plan. I also met Lauren Zizes, my replacement. I have to say I'm a little shocked by their choice, I wonder if she can sing? Either way, I think it's pretty safe to say that she's not as good as me_.

Kurt and Finn closed the door, basking in the warmth of their home, and taking off their shoes. They both frowned when they heard multiple voices in the front room, and Kurt could have sworn that it was _Blaine_ in there with his father. He glanced at Finn who was shrugging and hanging his gilet on one of the coat hooks. Together the two of them moved into the front room and froze at what they saw.

There, sitting on the sofa, was Blaine, Juri and _Keats_. They all seemed to be in good spirits, and his dad was relaxed in the armchair, clearly halfway through a conversation with the three boys. All eyes turned to him, and he saw Blaine's fix onto the scarf, half wound around Kurt's neck, and Kurt coloured up to a matching shade. The silence was slightly awkward, until Finn broke it.

"Um, I don't mean to be rude, but what are you doing here?" Blaine let out a half laugh, Keats smiled, and Juri looked at Blaine.

"We come baring gifts." said Blaine, with a wry grin. "Wonderful, moisturising, skin-tone enhancing, gifts." Kurt's mouth dropped open.

"You brought my products back?" he asked, incredulously.

"Yes," said Keats with a soft, smile. "all two boxes."

"I vasn't sure if you vould survive." Kurt laughed at his friend, shaking his head.

"No, you're right, I was missing them this morning."

"Come on." said Blaine, getting up and picking up a box. "I'll help you take this up, and maybe you could return my blazer?" Kurt turned a little pink, accepting the box from Blaine, and nodded.

"Yes, of course." The two of them made their way up the stairs, and Kurt led him into his and Finn's bedroom. "Sorry it's a mess, Finn's been living in here so…" he broke off, shrugging, as he set down the box. Blaine gave him a smile.

"Don't worry, I like it…I can't _stand_ really tidy rooms…" he shook his head, looking a little distracted. Kurt indicated where he could set his box down, and opened his closet, searching for the blazer and hat.

Kurt wasn't sure why, but he felt incredibly nervous. Having both Keats and Blaine inside his house was enough to send his insides on some sort of riot. They'd been talking to his _dad_, did they have _any_ _idea_ how _crazy_ that was? If they said _one_ wrong thing, Burt would never let them _near_ Kurt again. That, and, well, Blaine was _so close_ to him. Kurt could _feel_ his breath on the back of his neck. He breathed deeply, and took down the hanger that had the blazer and hat on it.

"Here." he said, turning around and proffering the clothing to Blaine. Blaine, who had been standing _right_ behind Kurt and seemingly surveying his collection of clothing, jumped.

"What? Oh, thanks…sorry, I was just amazed by the amount of designer clothes you have…I don't think Emily has this much…wow." he smiled at Kurt, placing the blazer on the bed. Kurt swallowed, forcing the lump down in his throat.

"Blaine…" Blaine frowned at Kurt, features contorting with concern. Oh, and how much he wished to tell Blaine how he felt about him. He blinked, harder, sniffing.

"Kurt?" Kurt couldn't think. Blaine was inches from him, but Kurt was confused. Kurt was confused because Blaine _had_ a boyfriend, and whether it was Sebastian Smythe or not, Kurt wasn't about to start kissing someone in a relationship. That, and he wasn't sure how he felt about Keats. He felt…_different_ around him, and Kurt didn't know whether it was platonic or not. Then, he didn't even know if he _wanted_ to kiss Blaine. His heart was beating _so_ fast.

"Blaine…what happened with you and Keats?"

_What? Why the __**hell**__ did I just ask him __**that**__? Oh god, he's backing away. He looks shocked, too, I don't blame him, either. I don't know why I just said that. I guess, it was just that they were at my house together, and they weren't threatening each other, or anything. _

"I'm sorry- I just- you're not arguing, and I just wondered…" he trailed off, trying to collect himself, and not come completely apart at the seams. Blaine smiled at him, a hand reaching up to rub his arm comfortingly.

"It's okay, Kurt, I know you're curious, but…I just- I don't _like_ talking about it…" Blaine sighed. "Look, me and Keats decided that, just for now, just until _you're_ back, we're going to try not fighting or killing each other." Kurt frowned at him, not having expected _that_ answer.

"What?" he asked. Blaine looked down for a second, before meeting Kurt's eyes.

"I really like you, Kurt-" Kurt's heart flipped.

_Oh my god! Don't freak out! Don't freak out! He means just as a friend! He means it as a friend! But, why did he want to have to say it like __**that**__! Oh my god! Just breathe._

"-and I want you to be happy, and safe… I _know_ Dalton is scary, and difficult when you first come, and I'm _sorry_ that I didn't orientate you properly, but I can't help but feel like this is my _fault_." Kurt opened his mouth to protest, and Blaine used both his hands to shush him. "I _know_ that it's not, but I just can't help it…" he shook his head. "I'm _sorry_, Kurt." Kurt blinked, biting his tongue.

"Blaine…I don't- did you come here to try and convince my dad to send me back?" Blaine hung his head. Kurt wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. "Is- does my dad know?" Blaine shook his head.

"No." Kurt nodded, glad. "Please don't be angry at me." Kurt blinked at him, staring at Blaine like he was seeing him for the first time.

"Aren't you meant to be under house arrest?" Blaine nodded, head still hung. "How did you get out?" Blaine raised his eyes to meet Kurt's.

"Me, Luc and Keats talked Hammonds into it."

"You and Keats…?"

"I don't like him, but he's more useful on my side right now…" Blaine shook his head. Kurt nodded. Blaine stared into Kurt's face as if he was trying to see _through_ Kurt. "How _are_ you, Kurt? You look tired." Kurt shook his head.

"I don't know…I don't think I slept well…" he choked at the end of the sentence. A hand wrapped around his shoulder as Kurt's knees, weak from tiredness, gave in. He slid down onto the floor. Blaine leant him against the bed. Kurt struggled to keep it together.

_I don't want Blaine to see me cry, anymore. I just want him to __**go**__! I just want to be on my own!_

Kurt tore the scarf from around his neck. He shoved it, violently, into Blaine's hands. Blaine looked at him with a worried frown.

"There you go, you can go now." Blaine didn't move. He just sat next to Kurt. Kurt turned away from him, feeling the tears begin to slip down his cheeks.

"You know, Sebastian gave me this scarf." said Blaine, in a quiet but casual voice.

_Eurgh! I do __**not**__ want to hear about Sebastian, __**now**__! If I needed any proof that Blaine was oblivious to my crush, __**this**__ is it. _

"My mum knitted me this scarf, you see, and I wore it _all_ the time when I was little-" Kurt felt the tension leave his body as he began to listen to Blaine's story. "-and then, when the bullying started, I slept with it, like a security blanket." he snorted to himself. "Then my dad found out…I had it in my hands when I…" he swallowed. "When I tried to kill myself, and he burnt it." Kurt shifted, the tears still tracing down his face.

Blaine was hunched over his knees, hands clamped around the scarf in his hands, one of his fingers tracing the soft material. He wasn't crying, but there was a pained look on his face.

"Then I came to Dalton, and I had _terrible_ nightmares…and I told Thad about it, and he spoke to Sebastian, and the next day I got this." he held the scarf up. "You know he gave me scarves _everyday_ until the end of that year…but I always slept with this one." he turned to meet Kurt's eyes, extending the scarf to Kurt. "You take it now, I don't need it anymore…it gave me a lot of comfort." Kurt could not speak he was so touched, as Blaine reached up and looped it around his neck, again. "Don't give up, Kurt." Kurt leaned into Blaine's side, crying all over again.

The best thing about Blaine, as Kurt nestled into his side, was that he didn't feel the need to tell Kurt that he was going to be okay. He seemed to understand that what Kurt needed right now was not someone to whisper platitudes that meant nothing, but to make him _feel_ cared for, and safe. Kurt guessed that Blaine just _understood_ what Kurt felt. He hadn't experienced the _same_ things, but some of what Blaine had been through was worse.

Kurt didn't want to move from his spot next to Blaine, and he couldn't bring himself to put a respectable distance between them as they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He felt Blaine shift, but he didn't pull away, perhaps sensing that Kurt _needed_ physical contact.

"Kurt, what are you-" the worst possible person walked up to find them. Kurt groaned into Blaine's chest as his father stepped into his room. Blaine's eyes went slightly wide, and he glanced at Kurt who was wiping his eyes, sitting up slowly. Blaine swallowed, and Kurt was faintly amused to see he looked a little frightened. Burt looked angry, and Blaine quickly retracted his arm from around his shoulder.

"Get _out_ of my house!" he said in a threatening voice, glaring at Blaine angrily. Blaine leapt to his feet, snatching up his blazer and hat. Kurt was a little alarmed to see the change in Blaine's personality. His face had gone blank, and his posture was incredibly stiff.

"No, dad-"

"Son, he made you cry." Kurt shook his head, getting angry.

"Dad, he _didn't_!"

"Kurt, you're still naïve and-"

"Blaine, _stop_!" Blaine was frozen, looking between the two Hummel's in a wary manner. "Dad, _listen to me_!" Finn, Keats and Juri appeared in the doorway, looking worried.

"Burt? Kurt?" said Finn, slipping into the room, looking concerned. "What's going on? Kurt are you okay?" Kurt nodded.

"Just make him _listen to me_! Blaine, _didn't hurt me_!" Finn glanced between the angry Kurt and Burt and the scared looking Blaine. "I wasn't crying because of Blaine, and if he just _listened to me _he would know, but he has to jump to conclusions and get _angry_ _over_ _everything_!" Finn looked a little worried, eyes darting between the father and son, and back to Blaine who looked nothing short of _terrified_. He put a hand on Kurt's chest.

"Okay, calm down. Burt, I think you need to listen to what Kurt has to say." There was a long silence in which both men breathed deeply.

"Kurt," said Blaine, cautiously. "remember what I said yesterday?" Kurt looked at him, blinking and slowly nodding. "I know it's hard that your dad isn't listening to you, but at least when he's angry he isn't being restrained from hitting you." Keats nodded, coming to stand by Blaine's side in a weird sign of solidarity.

"It's hard, Kurt, but he's yelling _because _he _loves you_…at least he's not getting violent and…throwing _things_…" Blaine put a hand on Keats' shoulder, looking awkward. Keats didn't shrug it off, but he stiffened slightly. There was a long pause in which Burt Hummel examined the two boys that had just spoken up in his defence. Burt put his hands up.

"I'm sorry, Kurt, but these past couple of weeks…I'm worried about you…I don't like you being away from home, I don't like the fact that I don't see you everyday and I don't like not knowing what's going on with you." Kurt sighed, brushing Finn's hand away from his chest.

"Dad, I miss you too, but I _like_ Dalton…people there understand me, and they look out for me, and they _care_ about me…you saw that they just expelled Charles, I _am_ _safe_, dad." Burt frowned. He didn't agree or disagree with Kurt, but he did reach over, putting a hand on Kurt's shoulder, and pulled him into a hug. Kurt let out a long sigh.

_I'm not sure whether or not that dad agrees with me, but I think that I'm wearing him down. I think he might just let me back in time for lessons on Monday. I just want to go back to Dalton, but I have missed Lima too, and that's a shock. I need to make sure that I come home more on weekends, but it's __**so**__ hectic, and I like the separation, most of the time…_

* * *

**Next Time- Star Struck: Kurt returns to Dalton Academy, and learns just how popular the Warblers really are in the school. The concert is upon them, but the big question for most of Kurt's friends is whether their families are attending, and Kurt learns that their families are nothing like his own…**


	12. Star Struck

**The Scholarship**

**Episode 12: Star Struck**

_I'm not sure how, but I'm back at Dalton. I reckon that my friends had a lot to do with it. Dad heard about Blaine trying to kill himself, but not me saying that I didn't consider it. That lead to quite a long, awkward, conversation. However, I think dad's realised that I __**need**__ the support that Dalton gives me, and he's had to admit that I'm not likely to get the same kind of protection that I do at Dalton anywhere else. He's also had to admit that the action they took was good. The only thing that's annoying is that dad is now Sebastian's biggest fan. I ought to be grateful for him getting Hammonds straight away, but still it's **Sebastian**…_

Kurt fixed his tie and hooked his bag onto his shoulder. Burt turned off the ignition and unbuckled his seat belt. Kurt gave his dad a smile, trying to reassure him silently, and wondering just _why_ his dad felt the need to talk to Hammonds, again. Kurt opened the door, and hopped out, smiling at the couple of students that were running inside, eyeing the sky which threatened rain.

"Alright, kid?" asked Burt, placing a hand on Kurt's shoulder. Kurt nodded. He wasn't nervous, actually. He still had Blaine's scarf around his neck which was comforting him more than he had thought was possible.

"I'm fine, dad. I'm really glad that you're letting me come back." Burt shrugged. They weren't that good at exchanging words, but Kurt knew that his dad was just trying to do what was best for Kurt, but Kurt also knew that, in the long run, what Kurt _needed_ - what was _best_ - was a zero-tolerance for bullying policy that was properly enforced.

"I just want a word with Hammonds, first." Kurt sighed.

"Can I _please_ just head to my lesson? I've already missed maths." Burt sighed. Then he nodded.

"Alright, Kurt, you head off to your lessons." Kurt grinned, waving his dad goodbye and dashing inside as it began to rain.

Kurt didn't think he'd ever been so happy to go to lessons before as he hurried down the corridors, accepting high-fives from passers-by who looked happy to see him. It caused him to smile, widely, at the reception and several Warblers dashed across, nearly tripping a captain up, to say that they were "_so glad_" to see him again. Kurt was quite surprised by the response given that he'd only missed a weekend, but he guessed that rumours spread across Dalton quickly - it was a smaller school than McKinley - and most people would have been wondering whether he was coming back.

"Kurt!" Kurt had just been fist bumped by Tyler, and looked around at the sound of his name. Nick, Jeff and Thad were moving through the crowd towards him. Kurt smiled at the three boys, allowing Nick and Jeff to clap him happily on the back.

"It's good to know that you're coming back, you _are _staying, right?" Kurt nodded at Jeff.

"Yes, my dad wants to talk to Hammonds, but I'm staying." there were sighs of relief.

"Oh good." said Nick. "Blaine and Juri weren't sure whether they'd done _more_ damage by visiting." Kurt shook his head.

"Nope, they _somehow_ swayed the way my dad looked at you guys." There were relieved smiles. Thad opened his bag, and handed a stack of papers, enclosed in a plastic wallet, to Kurt. Kurt took it with a small smile, examining it.

"What is this?" he asked, noting that it was sheet music.

"It's some of Luc's preliminary ideas for the concert." Kurt froze.

"You guys had rehearsals _on the weekend_?" he demanded, half incredulous but half worried at the idea of missing a rehearsal after a long talk that he'd received from Wes and David when the council had finished listening to _Don't Cry for Me, Argentina_ about not missing rehearsals. Nick and Jeff waved it away with a smile.

"Don't worry," assured Jeff, patting Kurt's shoulder. "you won't be penalised for missing it because your dad pulled you out."

"And we tend to rehearse on the weekends in the run-up to something like the concert." Kurt nodded, now worried about how much he'd missed.

"You…you didn't missss…much." Kurt smiled at Thad as Nick looked at him curiously. There was a long pause as Nick continued to stare at Thad, and Kurt looked at Jeff, curiously. Eventually, Jeff, after glancing at Nick, started the conversation again.

"Thad's right, you didn't miss much. We didn't decide on a song." Nick tore his gaze from his god-brother, and nodded.

"Yeah, the whole rehearsal on Sunday just turned into one large row between Blaine and Wes about Katy Perry." the two boys rolled their eyes as one, and Kurt frowned.

"What?" There were sniggers and giggles from Jeff and Nick, and Thad just fixed his gaze onto the floor.

"Blaine has this _thing_ about performing Katy Perry-"

"-or Pink-"

"-or anything in the top 40-"

"-or that _was_ in the top 40." Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"I see…well, it beats hits from the eighties." The three boys looked at him curiously. Kurt sighed. "I sometimes wondered whether Mr Schue, my old coach, hadn't listened to the radio since the eighties…he was _obsessed_ with Journey." The three boys looked between each other.

"Well, I guess _Dirty Dancing_ was from the eighties, but they also did _Valerie_." Kurt shrugged.

"I guess they managed to wear him down. He was already thinking of shaking things up…he was going to give me a solo." Kurt fell quiet at the end of the sentence, and the other boys looked mildly awkward.

"Just wait until Regionals." said Jeff, patting his shoulder. "You'll be able to at least _try_ for lead." Kurt nodded, aware that he had to hurry to Social Studies.

"Okay, thanks guys, I need to run." They nodded.

"Yeah… we're going to be late too." They split at a corridor and Kurt ran immediately into three people he _didn't_ want to see at this time of day on a Monday morning.

"Kurt!"

"Elizabeth!"

"Hummel!" Kurt groaned, massaging his temples. He'd forgotten to murder Mercedes for allowing them to find out his middle name.

"You're back!"

"You're late!"

"You must hurry!" With that Daniel grabbed his left elbow, Gabriel took his right, and Michael began to push him in the small of the back.

"_Guys_!" he complained as he was pushed like a lawnmower through the other students. There were laughs from the other boys who were mildly late for their lessons, and Kurt just wanted to _strangle_ the curious pixie boys that were apparently his friends. "Guys, _let me go_!" They ignored him, naturally, and continued to ferry him to his lesson.

"Sorry, we're late-"

"-but we brought Kurt-"

"-isn't it wonderful!" Mr Sutherland looked over at them, he didn't seem to care that Trinity were steering Kurt to his seat like a car, and just looked curiously at the doorway. Keats beamed at Kurt, his face lighting up, grey eyes sparkling, and Kurt smiled back before he was pushed into his seat.

"Where's Nick?" asked Sutherland, looking puzzled. Kurt's mouth dropped open in shock. He'd _completely_ forgotten that Nick was _in_ his social studies class.

"I-I don't know, sir." he said, feeling more than a little bit stupid. "He was with Jeff and Thad…I was talking to them, and I hurried off and he was still with them…" Mr Sutherland groaned, sinking his head towards the desk. Kurt blinked in confusion. He leant towards Flint who looked as if he was hiding a grin. "What's going on?" Flint shook his head, holding up a finger to say that he'd tell Kurt in a minute.

"Flint, do I want to know why Nick isn't in my lesson?" Flint took a deep breath, clearly hiding laughter. He shook his head, not trusting himself to speak. Mr Sutherland "hmmed" loudly under his breath. "Right, onto the lesson then…"

The moment that Mr Sutherland had become distracted by Trinity, who were demanding to know whether - in certain hypothetical scenarios - Communism would be better than Capitalism, and whether they should convert, Kurt leaned towards Flint again.

"So, um, _what_ is going on with Nick?" Flint seemed to choke on his own laughter before clearing his throat.

"Um, basically, Nick, Jeff and Thad are organising a _prank_!" Kurt raised his eyebrows, remembering how Trinity had withdrawn their pranking ideas on Mrs Daniels for fear of decapitation. That, and he hadn't really pictured _Thad_ as the pranking type.

"_Thad_ is organising a prank?" he asked in a low voice. Flint nodded, a sly grin appearing on his face.

"Oh yes…Thad comes across as all innocent, and they use that to their advantage." Kurt frowned.

"They prank a lot?" Flint shrugged.

"Not as much as they did in Freshman year at the beginning…they all got sent here because they were _terrible_ at their Junior High…they _all_ got suspended at least _once_, and Nick and Jeff were threatened with expulsion more than once…and I think Thad _was_, but it was overturned." Kurt blinked in shock. Admittedly he didn't know Thad very well, or really at all, but he'd never struck Kurt as _that_ kind of guy.

"What did they do?" he asked, very curious. Flint shrugged.

"I don't know, wasn't there _obviously_, but I think they use to replace the seats of chairs, cause doors to swing back on people, grease floors…I know that they set fireworks off in their Chemistry lab once when they got bored…Nick and Jeff use to execute the whole thing, and Thad was the one that distracted teachers and lied to cover up for them." Kurt raised his eyebrows, shocked.

"I didn't realise…they didn't seem…" Flint gave him a catty grin.

"We toned things down when you were around at the beginning," he admitted. "Blaine told us that things were _really_ bad from your old school, and we weren't allowed to freak you out." Kurt nodded, a little surprised still.

"So, um, _who_ are they pranking?" Flint tapped his pen against his lips thoughtfully.

"I'm not sure…" he said, thoughtfully. "They - Nick and Jeff - were pretty hyper. I think Thad's just doing it because Nick asked him too…it won't be Luc, though, because Thad would _never_ prank him…though, now that I think about it no one in their right mind would, then again, this is Nick and Jeff, they've pranked _Hammonds_ at the _Carol Service_!" Kurt gaped at him.

"Did they get away with it?" Flint grinned at him, cockily.

"Oh yeah, Hammonds is pretty easy going about _that_ kind of thing. They made it "_snow_" inside the church, and they got inside the organ and began singing an amended version of _Silent Night_…somehow they got out before Mrs Daniels caught them, though I think that was because Thad "_threw up_" on her, and blamed it on nerves…" Flint bent double over the table, giggling at the memory. Kurt blinked at him, before chortling himself.

"Mr Wilson, Mr Hummel, care to share?" Kurt glanced at Flint who was still laughing.

"Sorry, sir." he said, eventually able to get out _two words_ out. "I was just thinking of our first Carol Service." Many people in the class began to snicker at that memory. He saw Vince and Parker roll their eyes, and heard Trinity cackle. Mr Sutherland's lips twitched slightly.

"Yes, that was one of their finer moments, wasn't it?" Kurt gaped at him, slightly, whilst the other boys nodded energetically. "I have to say, though, my favourite was their tribute to Curtis." There were enthusiastic grins from the other boys, and exclamations of "_yes_!" and "_that was __**epic**_!". Sutherland turned to Kurt, an amused grin on his face. "Flint, care to explain _that_ one to Kurt?" Flint swallowed his laughter and nodded.

"Curtis was the head boy and lead when we were Freshmen-" Kurt nodded, remembering Keats mentioning him once. "-and he _really_ liked Nick and Jeff." he snorted to himself. "So, the two of them - with the ever present help of Thad - set about giving him a big farewell in the final assembly. They set off confetti cannons that were filled with pictures of Curtis, and they attached wires to the ceiling and came sliding down and stared singing _Goodbye My Lover_. They got the whole hall on their feet, and when Mrs Daniels tried to pull them down they hitched her into the air and dropped her into Curtis' arms… Then Thad laid a white sheet over her because she'd fainted, and carried her off stage…" Flint doubled up, laughing, and Kurt raised his eyebrows.

"Okay…I thought Dalton was _really_ strict." Mr Sutherland shrugged.

"Oh, we can be…but we're lenient when it comes to some things…" Vince tutted, loudly, and Kurt swallowed, slightly. Mr Sutherland seemed to jump a little bit.

"Yes, thank you, Vince…we must return to our lesson." Flint rolled his eyes, pulling a nasty face at Vince's head, and giving Kurt a guilty, half smile when he realised he'd been caught.

_That was certainly enlightening as far as Dalton tradition goes. I'm surprised that they toned things down for me…I guess that all that time I was sitting there thinking that they were acting like I wasn't there, but they were changing their habits for me…These guys never stop surprising-_

"I'm sorry sir!" Nick came burst into the classroom, tie loose and happy face splattered with mud. His clothes had crusted mud on them as well, and he dashed to his seat, clutching his bag that was much more worn than it had been minutes ago.

_Yep, they __**never**__ stop surprising me._

Nick slid into his seat, the eyes of everyone in the class on him, still grinning. Mr Sutherland eyed him up and down. He gave a sigh, and placed his pen down.

"Go back to Harriot, Nick." said Mr Sutherland in a completely even tone. "Go and get washed and changed, and get a new bag." Nick gave his teacher a grin, and darted back out of the classroom. Kurt blinked, and then leant back in as Mr Sutherland continued to teach the lesson like nothing had changed.

"Um, why isn't he punishing him?" Flint grinned at Kurt.

"Well, mainly, there's not much he can get him for, except being late for lessons, and, also, Mr Sutherland is ex-Dalton." Kurt blinked in shock, not having known that. Flint gave a little nod. "So, he knows all about the code of conduct; we _don't_ tell on each other." Kurt nodded, slightly.

"I thought that teachers only did that between each other." Flint shook his head.

"Some teachers, like Sutherland, Hartfield and Luc, do it for students as well." Kurt nodded, noting down the facts inside of his head. Flint patted his elbow. "There's loads of stuff about Dalton that's hard to get your head around, but you'll learn quickly." Kurt smiled at him.

"Cheers." Flint gave him a crooked smile.

"Sometimes you just wanna scream at the craziness of it all, but it grows on you – we're like some huge, crazy family." Kurt gave him another smile, nodding.

"Okay, I'll bear that in mind." Flint gave him a mock salute as Mr Sutherland cleared his throat, attracting their attention, again.

"Fun as it has been to give Kurt a little history lesson, we _do_ need to get some of this work done." The two boys nodded. "Good, Trinity, do _not_ drop whatever is in your hands." Kurt twisted around to look at Trinity, who all had a clear, blobby, _thing_ in their hands. Mr Sutherland reached into his desk and threw a set of plastic bags elastic banded together. Flint separated out three and handed them to Trinity who, with sad looks on their faces, deposited the gel, or whatever, inside. Flint screwed them back up, and chucked them in the bin without leaving his desk. Mr Sutherland applauded his aim, and transitioned smoothly into the topic of the lesson.

_I feel so relaxed being back at Dalton. I was half expecting to be jumpy and on edge, but I feel __**so**__ at ease. I guess I have to thank Sutherland and Social Studies to thank for that. Missing maths was a biggie for me because, whilst I don't mind it, I don't sit next to anyone I really know…heck, I'm still not sure __**what**__ the guy next to me is called…but I __**love**__ Social Studies…has to be one of my favourite lessons, even if I have Trinity sitting behind me. I wonder what Nick did, Mrs Daniels came in looking for him, but Sutherland just said that he'd had to go back to Harriot to change, and she stormed off, and Nick returned minutes later, grinning from ear to ear. Yep, I'm curious…_

* * *

"How did it go?" Kurt was squished in next to Blaine at the lunch table as seemingly _half_ their year, the Warblers and several other people were interested in hearing the tale behind Nick, Jeff and Thad's escapade. From what he could gather Mrs Daniels had been _super_ pissed off because _something_ had happened to her car. Jeff and Nick were grinning from ear to ear, and Thad was just drinking water like nothing had happened.

"Well," said Nick, leaning forward and causing everyone to do so. "Thad distracted her with his perfect I'm-having-a-panic-attack-because-I'm-stuttering-so-badly act, and she bought it-"

"Hook."

"Line."

"And sinker." said Trinity with evil grins on their faces. Kurt glanced at Blaine who had a look of anticipation shining on his face, and Kurt swallowed, fixing his eyes back onto Nick and Jeff. The two boys nodded at one, and Thad almost choked on his water as someone slapped him on the back.

"Anyway, we snuck round to her car…" said Nick, clearly struggling to hide back an excited giggle.

"And we broke the hood open…" Kurt was beginning to get a little bit worried, remembering Sue Sylvester and Mercedes and the tater-tots.

"We got the mud-"

"-and we _coated_ her engine." Kurt choked on the air he was breathing in shock. These were the two boys who had, on his first day, told him to stay out of Mrs Daniels' way, and now they were _coating her car engine with mud_! Most of the other boys looked similarly horrified.

"_Guys_!" said Wes, eyes wide. "_That_ could get you _expelled_!" Nick and Jeff shrugged.

"No way…there's _no way_ they can say it was us." Kurt saw, though, that the other boys looked a little nervous, and Flint was eyeing Thad who was staring at his carrots. Blaine reached across the table, and prodded him lightly. Thad looked up. His gaze met Blaine's for a second, and he forced a smile on his face. David met Nick's eyes and jerked his head at Thad, questioningly. The table was unnaturally quiet as Nick glanced at him before shaking his head and brushing it away. Flint cleared his throat.

"So, um, how did _you_ get covered in mud?" The two boys shared conspiratorial looks.

"Well, we wanted to make sure it worked, so _I_ got in the car-"

"-and he turned the ignition on, and the mud went _everywhere_!"

"And then the car _moved_-"

"-and it sort of ran over my bag." They both broke down into giggles, and the others just exchanged long looks.

"So, is it _broken_?" asked one of the Warblers. They nodded, enthusiastically. There was a _long_ pause.

"Do I want to know _why_?" asked George, frowning at Nick and Jeff. They both grinned at each other.

"She got on our nerves on Saturday. She breathed down our necks. She needed taking down a peg."

"We thought about it carefully. We knew how much she loved her car. It was a simple plan." The prefects exchanged looks that clearly asked "_do we __**want**__ to be hearing this_?". Sebastian shook his head.

"I'm _head boy_. I _definitely_ shouldn't be hearing this." he said, shaking his head. "Kurt," he said, turning to the Franklin boy. "did you get the sheet music?" Kurt nodded.

"Yes, Thad gave it to me." Sebastian nodded.

"You're not going to be going to cheerleading." Kurt blinked.

"What?" Sebastian sighed.

"We've got the concert on _Friday_, we have rehearsals everyday after lessons." Kurt nodded.

"Okay." Sebastian gave him a look whilst he nodded, and then stiffened. He rolled his eyes.

"Mrs Daniels is coming over, come on prefects, Wes." The boys widened their eyes in a look of annoyance and gave the other boys looks that asked for strength. They moved away, and guided her out of the hall. The occupants of the table broke down into hysterics once more, and slowly began to move away to tables where they could actually sit down. Kurt had to admit that, whilst he was amused, it seemed like a ridiculously risky thing to do.

"Guys, you realise Mrs Daniels will_ blow up_ at your parents." There were shrugs from Nick and Jeff.

"My dad isn't coming." said Nick, casually, and the other boys stared at him, surprised.

"Really?" asked Flint, one eyebrow raised. Nick nodded.

"Yeah, he's too busy with the film and everything." David swallowed his piece of lettuce and nodded.

"Yeah, my dad isn't coming either." There were eye rolls from the boys at that.

"Yeah, but David you have _eight_ parents." Kurt felt his eyes bug wide open. _Eight parents_?! Was that even _possible_?

"You have _eight parents_?" he demanded, not caring that the conversation had moved on whilst he'd stayed in his shocked state. David, and the others, all chuckled at the gaping look on Kurt's face, and David nodded.

"Yep, I have mum and dad, and then six step-parents." Kurt continued to stare at him _six step-parents_, and Kurt had thought _his_ family was a little bit weird.

"Don't worry," said Blaine, patting his arm and causing colour to swoop back into Kurt's face, "David has _the_ weirdest family of anybody on campus, and that's really saying something." There were nods from the other boys.

"Yeah, David's mum has divorced _five_ men, and is still good friends with _all_ of them…" Kurt blinked, wondering if that was possible. David nodded in a mildly smug manner, and then rolled his eyes, posture relaxing a lot.

"Basically, my mum married her _friends_, and then cheated on them _with_ each other, but it was like "oh, yeah, we're actors, this is what we do" kind of thing. It's the same with dad, except he only did it once." Kurt raised an eyebrow, both at what he'd said as he was reminded of the Finn-Quinn-Puck love-baby daddy triangle of last year, and the use of the word "_actors_".

"Your parents are actors?" he asked cautiously, wondering by "_actors_" he meant people that were amateurs in the theatre, or huge film stars. David made a non-committal movement with his head.

"My mum and my step-dads are, but my dad is a director, and my step-mums are a model and a singer." Kurt raised his eyebrow higher, curiosity piqued. The others looked at him, as if trying to see whether he was going to work out _who_ David's parents were. Kurt frowned, guessing this meant that he _should_ have heard of them. That meant they were _famous_…he'd never met _anyone_ famous before.

Then it clicked together in his mind. He felt his mouth hang open as he finished processing the information in his brain. It had taken him a little while, and his mind was still reeling, but the moment he'd thought of David's surname and remembered that his dad was not an actor but a _director _it had all fallen into place.

"Your dad is _Rupert Thompson_?" he exclaimed, hands flying over his mouth, fork clattering to the floor. The others tried, and failed, to keep straight faces at his reaction. David just nodded, casually. Kurt was stunned into silence. "But- but that means your mother is…your mum is _Serina Clifford_, and your step-fathers…!" he trailed off, gaping at the Warbler Councillor in amazement. David reached over and patted him on the forearm.

"Just take some time to breathe," said Blaine, patting his shoulder. "I fainted, if it makes you feel better."

"Look on the bright side," said Flint, swallowing his apple juice in one gulp and wiping his mouth. "at least you're getting warning. We didn't find out until the first concert…" There were shaken heads as they remembered the storm that had occurred when Rupert Thompson, Serina Clifford and their various array of exes and spouses had stepped into the hall. Nick shuddered.

"Tristan _never_ let me live _that_ down." he shook his head, and Kurt still felt a slight numb feeling of shock in his body. Blaine shook his shoulder, lightly.

"Earth to Kurt, we have lessons." Kurt blinked at him. Blaine smiled sympathetically. "I know, David _loves_ dropping the "my parents are famous" bomb at the _worse_ times…like I said, I fainted." Kurt nodded dumbly. He got to his feet, hooking his bag over his shoulder, and following Jeff out of the canteen, mind still spinning.

_I can't __**believe**__ that his parents are Rupert Thompson and Serina Clifford. They're __**so**__… I just can't imagine __**that**__ let alone…The idea of who his step-parents are just blows my mind! I __**love**__ them…I don't know anyone that __**doesn't**__ like them…They're all __**so talented**__…Rosanne Watters! Ahh! I __**loved**__ 'Chokehold'…it was one those programmes that made me feel that being gay wasn't such an odd thing…I know his step-parents didn't play those characters, but still… The worst thing is that I think my other friends have bombshells to drop because __**Nick**__ said that __**his**__ father was working on a film, __**with David's**__! Oh wow…_

* * *

Blaine was just a little frustrated with himself. He'd not been able to speak to Keats since they'd returned to Dalton after Finn had led them out of their house with a small smile on his face. Keats had been silent in the car, no doubt their momentary alliance playing on his mind, and he'd hurried away the moment he'd pulled up. Blaine guessed that he had gone to speak to Trinity or one of his friends, most likely Vince.

Blaine didn't know why, but he thought that their relationship was _worse_ off than it had been before they went. It ought to have not mattered to Blaine, and most of the time it really _didn't_, but if Keats was being honest - something that was still being heavily contested in his mind - than Blaine felt that he ought to make a sort of peace treaty, if only for Kurt's sake.

If truth was to be told, and Blaine was always honest inside of his head, he was beginning to worry about Kurt. He seemed to slipping and sliding through different moods, going from "_okay_" to depressed to…happy. Blaine didn't know whether _he_ himself was doing something wrong because he seemed happier with Keats - something that did _not_ make him feel better - and that worried Blaine because Blaine was meant to be helping with him.

Blaine's mind had settled upon _one_ reason why this could be the case. Blaine had slipped in an out of Kurt's life, going from close to distant, and just _not_ doing what he ought to have been doing. The thing that made Blaine feel _worse_ was that he'd already noted that as a problem _earlier_, but he didn't know _how_ he could change what he was already doing.

Blaine _liked_ spending time with Kurt. He was a nice guy, and he was fun to be around…when he wasn't crying, but he _preferred_ being with Sebastian. It made him feel slightly guilty, because he was _supposed_ to be with Kurt, but he couldn't help it. He _loved_ Sebastian, that much he was sure of, and he couldn't help that he wanted to spend _every moment_ of _every day_ with him, even if Sebastian hadn't kissed him yet.

Blaine settled his forehead into his book as Mr Earl droned _on_ and _on_ in Spanish. He was _the worst_ teacher that Blaine had ever encountered, and that was _really _saying something as Blaine had been discriminated against by teachers. The thing about Mr Earl was that he was the living counterpart of Professor Binns, everyone knew that. He had _no idea_ who _anybody_ in his class was, and he had _no idea_ that the syllabus had changed since he had first got his teaching qualifications. The only time that Blaine had ever seen him react was when Nick and Jeff had been attacked by David when he'd been wound up to bursting point. Mr Earl had been _furious_ about the disruption in his class, and had been _terrifying_. Blaine had _really_ thought he was going to _hit_ someone with his metre stick ruler.

Blaine almost burst out laughing when he felt someone prod him. Trust _Thad_ to decide that it didn't matter that they were in the middle of Spanish, a subject that Thad had failed last year - no thanks to _only_ having Mr Earl in Dalton, and not talking much in his aural exams - and _needed_ to pass to retain his scholarships, to check up on Blaine's mental health. Blaine lifted his head from his books and gave Thad a weak smile. The other boys, most likely having been alerted by Thad, were looking at him. Blaine sat upright and ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm worried about Kurt," he said in a low tone. "I think…I just-" he shook his head, looking a little hopeless. Nick, glancing at Mr Earl in mild terror, put an arm around his shoulders.

"Blaine, don't blame yourself for what's happened…" Jeff sighed, looking at his hands. "You've had _a lot_ on your mind…this could be _it_ with your dad." Blaine nodded, swallowing heavily.

"Kurt _can't_ understand that." said David in a low voice. "_I_ can't understand that…Kurt has an amazing dad…" David shrugged. "He doesn't know what your dad is like…he has _no idea_ how much this can mean to you, just like you don't have _any idea_ how Kurt felt when Charles kissed him…but you _can_ empathise." he shrugged. "I _promise_ that by the end of this week it'll be easier." Blaine sniffed, wiping his nose on his hand.

"Hey-" Fred poked Blaine on the back. "-look at this." Blaine took Fred's phone, glancing at Mr Earl who was just droning on about Spanish weather. The other boys crowded in to read the text message on his screen.

_Filming wrapping up. Daley said 2 tell David that Serina not dating…people getting worried. Theyre still filming…won't b back 4 concert. Sorry. I should b back 4 New Year! QT driving me mad. Won't b here though; hooray! Send my love 2 the guys. XXX- MBT_

Blaine felt a happy grin spread across as Nick and Jeff punched the air jubilantly. David ran a hand over his head, looking a little nervous at the news about his mother, and Blaine twisted round, still grinning, to return Fred's phone.

"Is that _definite_?" he asked in a whisper. Fred nodded.

"He _just_ sent that to me. I know that's what he said earlier, but he got a call-back so…" Fred shrugged, and Blaine nodded.

"He didn't get it, right?" Fred nodded, sadly.

"He got the offer, but he loves _HH2_ too much to pull his contract, _even though_ it's more money." Blaine nodded, unable to get the grin off his face as he turned back to the front. Morrison was coming back!

"How long do you reckon he'll be here for?" asked Jeff in an undertone. Nick shook his head.

"Not long, but still…"

"I thought he'd be spending New Year with Lottie in England." said Flint in a thoughtful voice, frown on his face.

"Maybe Lottie isn't going back to England." said David reasonably. "After what happened she might want to stay at Crawford…" The boys all shifted in their seats, as if moving around would help dispel the bad memories from their minds. Blaine ran a hand through his hair.

"I can't believe that this is happening." he muttered. The others looked at him, confused. "Keats," he explained through gritted teeth. "I _don't_ believe him, but at the same time…" he shrugged. "It makes _no sense_ that he'd be lying…" he banged his head against the desk. Nick rubbed his back in a reassuring manner.

"Don't worry, Blaine, as long as everyone keeps their cool there won't be any trouble." Blaine groaned as he remembered Sebastian's response to his comment.

"Bastian doesn't think _that's_ possible." There were shrugs and snorts.

"Sebastian isn't exactly known for being a ray of sunshine, Blaine, but some of us have to stay positive." Blaine nodded, raising his head from the table.

"I just- what are we mean to do if he's not being honest? Heck, what do we do if he _is_ being honest?" The other Warblers exchanged pointed looks with one another, clearly not as worried about that prospect as Blaine himself was. Nick rubbed Blaine's back again as Flint examined the notes that Thad had been taking, and discovered that he had actually been creating a crossword using the names of Broadway musicals. Flint let out a puff of air, Spanish being the only subject apart from maths he had any definitive flair for, and snatched away the sheet of paper, noting down whatever important elements Earl had slipped into his nonsense.

Blaine shook his head, and sat up a little bit straighter. The news that Morrison would be back for New Year was always going to put him in a good mood because Blaine had quickly learnt that no Dalton celebration would be complete without Morrison Barringer-Tanner. That, and Blaine just _missed_ him. Blaine had never been as close to Morrison as Fred or Drew or Chris were, but Morrison had always seemed to keep an eye on him, and look after him, which meant a lot to Blaine.

Blaine pulled out his phone, noting that Mr Earl wasn't at all interested in what anybody in the class was doing, and that some people - namely Andy - were actually working on computers whilst he talked.

_Hey, how many ways of killing QT have you come up with?-B_

Blaine still sent the text from underneath the table, not wanting his phone to be confiscated, and knowing that - with the amount of noise being generated by Nick and Jeff - he was likely to look over in their direction soon.

_Only 37. Do u think that Id go 2 jail 4 breakin Q guitar?-MBT_

Blaine snorted to himself at Morrison's reply, thinking that, yes, Quinn would have Morrison sent to jail for _something_ if he touched his precious guitar.

_Definitely, Q would marry his guitar if it were legal.-B_

_Eww, trying 2 do a sob scene here B, not need that image.-MBT_

Blaine rolled his eyes. Trust Morrison to make everything dirty, and to text people in the middle of a shoot.

_It's your own fault for making it dirty; I said marry not sleep with-B_

_Ahh, stop! I can't stop laughing! Im gonna b murdered, g2g. Love u XX- MBT_

Blaine rolled his eyes and slid his phone away, after sending him a text that told him it was his fault for having his phone on during shooting. He'd forgotten to ask when QT were coming back, but he got the feeling that it would be after the holidays, or whenever their music video hit big on Youtube, which, mused Blaine sourly, wouldn't take so long. QT would also never lower themselves to attending Dalton's New Year party when they had their pick of the celebrations in Hollywood.

* * *

_Today has been a good day at Dalton. I've had a little talk with Keats - but it was mainly him gushing about how glad he was to see me again - and he said that they understood what it was like to have homophobic parents so __**that's**__ why they'd stood together. He wasn't very explicit about what happened, but I get the impression that he was physically hurt by his dad…I can't imagine __**that**__. Also, I'm beginning to think that what he said about the Warblers was a lie…everybody has been giving me high-fives, and moving out of my way and telling they can't __**wait**__ to hear us perform…it's incredible!_

Kurt was hurrying towards Warbler rehearsal with his head held higher than he could have imagined, given how he'd felt on the weekend. He'd gone from terrified to a wreck to confident. There was something so assuring about the walls of Dalton Academy all of a sudden. Something about all the people that were _excited_ to see him… He couldn't quite explain it, but, apart from doing wonders for his ego, it just made him _happy. _He also had taken to winding Blaine's scarf around his neck when he was in the hallways because it gave him a strange sense of comfort, and confidence. He'd received some strange look from some boys, who he guessed knew the scarf was Blaine's, but no one had told him to take it off.

He walked with Juri towards Warbler Hall, the Russian was excitedly talking about what piece he was going to play for the concert - Kurt thought it was by Mozart, but most of the conversation had passed over his head anyway - and how happy he was that his dad, apparently some form of oil giant, was coming to watch him. Kurt had patted his shoulder as he got increasingly excitable, and began to make noise at a volume that was unacceptable - if George's pointed look was anything to go by.

Kurt waved him goodbye when he reached Warbler Hall, and winced as he collided with Sebastian as he attempted to walk backwards and wave. Sebastian had looked momentarily startled, losing composure for a second or two, before rolling his eyes, and hoisting Juri up - with complete ease - and setting him on his feet. He seemed to be telling Juri off for walking backward, keeping a firm grip on his arm, until he looked at Kurt.

Kurt wasn't sure what it was, straight away, but something flickered in his face as his eyes locked onto Kurt. He let go of Juri, and seemingly pushed him away, still staring at Kurt. Kurt blinked and looked at himself, trying to work out what had captured Sebastian's attention so thoroughly, and, Kurt was sure he was wrong, was making him look so worried.

Self-consciously he touched the scarf around his neck, and saw the faintest twitch in Sebastian's face. Kurt froze, suddenly understanding why Sebastian was all but _glaring_ at him across the doorway. Sebastian had given the scarf _to_ Blaine, who he liked, and Blaine had the scarf to _Kurt_, who liked Blaine.

Kurt felt a grin work it's way onto his face as he finally worked out what was causing Sebastian's jaw to jump, slightly; he felt _threatened_. Blaine had made it sound like the scarf meant a lot to him, and Kurt _had_ been mildly surprised when Blaine had given it to him, but it just been an act of kindness. However, Sebastian clearly didn't see it that way. So that led Kurt to think; was Blaine just being the emotional dunce that everyone kept saying he was, or did the scarf mean _more_ to the couple than Blaine had let on, and if so; why had he given it to Kurt?

Kurt couldn't help but smirk as he looked at Sebastian. Not long ago Sebastian had told him, coldly, that he didn't feel threatened by Kurt at all, but his tense expression was telling Kurt the complete opposite. Blaine might be completely innocent, and not see the subtle boundaries between friendly and romantic gestures, but Sebastian _did_. Sebastian was also _completely_ self-confident, which led Kurt to think that if he was worried, there was a genuine reason for it, and Kurt had thought his day couldn't get any better.

_I don't believe it! If Sebastian is worried than it must mean he thinks Blaine __**might**__ like me on a level that is __**beyond**__ friendship. I wonder if he thinks I told him? I doubt it, though. I get the impression that if I told Blaine, Blaine would tell Sebastian. Either way, I don't think I've been this happy in a __**long**__ time…_

Kurt felt the swagger enter his step as he walked up to Sebastian who was still just _standing _there, a cold, calculating look entering his eyes. Kurt stopped right in front of him, smirking up into his face, and glad that - for once - he had the power over Sebastian.

"Do you feel threatened now?" he asked, fingering the ends of the scarf, and Sebastian's face twisted into an ugly expression. He opened his mouth to say something when Wes stuck his head out of the door.

"Hurry up, you two, we're starting." Kurt gave Sebastian a final smirk, flicking his left eyebrow up slightly, and turned on his heel, catching Sebastian in the chest with his bag and following Wes into the hall.

Kurt noticed that the hall was full, all the seats had been taken, and Kurt made his way over to Jeff and Nick, leaning against the table next to Jeff. Sebastian came walking in, looking much calmer than a couple of moments ago, and someone leapt from a sofa to give him a seat. He watched as Blaine frowned when Sebastian didn't acknowledge his smile, and simply sat there, waiting for the council to speak.

"Ookaay." said David, glancing between the hurt Blaine and Sebastian in confusion. "We need to finalise our song choice." There was a long pause before Wes banged his gavel.

"Come _on_, people, we don't have long. What did you think of what Luc put together for us?" There were non-committal mutterings from the group. Wes let out a groan and massaged his temples. "With the exception of Junior Warbler Kurt Hummel, who looked at their parts?" There was a long pause in which the hands of the council, Blaine, Flint, Sebastian and Liam went into the air. Kurt looked at the others, surprised, who all winced guiltily. The councillors all shook their heads in annoyance.

"Alright," said David, tetchily. "moving on. What are your thoughts on overall themes?" A couple of hands went up. Wes pointed the gavel at Flint.

"I think we should get as far away from S Club 7 as possible." There were nods at that.

"We could do a rap." suggested Edward, and there immediate groans.

"_No_!" exclaimed David. "It should be against _federal_ _law_ for Blaine to rap." Kurt raised his eyebrows at that, and glanced Jeff and Nick who were sniggering.

"We'll show you the video." muttered Jeff. "It's _hilarious_…he doesn't know we've still got it." Kurt nodded, and was distracted by Wes brandishing the gavel in their general direction.

"I'm _not_ that bad!" Blaine was protesting, but the others were just shaking their heads and groaning out loud. The rest of the Warblers were chuckling to themselves, the Freshmen having been filled in on _why_ it was so terrible that Blaine should rap, and Kurt relaxed back as Wes banged for order.

"Either way, I don't think rapping is a good thing to do before our _parents_, or Mrs Daniels…" There were snorts and nods, and then Thad elbowed Wes in the ribs.

"_Oww_!" exclaimed the older boy, glaring at his fellow council member, who pointed at a dark haired boy with a tidy fringe that was staring at the floor. Wes set down his gavel, sharing a half glance with David.

"Alvin?" he asked, concern in his voice. Alvin did not respond. Wes sent his confused and worried eyes to the boy next to him, who had wild frizzy hair. They shook their head before poking him.

"What Dom?" he asked, tiredly, looking up.

"Hey, what's up?" asked David, frowning in concern. Alvin looked away, and Kurt was alarmed to see tears brimming in his grey-blue eyes.

"Like you don't know." There were heavy sighs from most of the Warblers. Blaine got to his feet, walking over to the boy.

"Stand up." he said. Alvin just stared at him, frowning, and Blaine gave him a small smile. Eventually, Alvin, under the scrutiny of curious eyes, stood. Blaine immediately pulled him into a tight hug, rubbing his back. "It's not your fault, Al." he said, quietly, and for some reason Kurt felt his heart swell as he watched Blaine comfort the other boy.

"He's right." said Sebastian in a bored voice, looking away from the spot on the wall that had been the sole focus of his attention since he'd sat down. Alvin blinked at him, looking shocked that he'd spoken to him. Sebastian rolled his eyes. "You're straight, he's gay-" Kurt felt his heart stop as he realised that they were talking about Charles. "-if you'd said yes…" Kurt felt his eyes widen.

"He asked _you_ to marry him?" he said, in barely concealed shock. Alvin looked his way, nodding.

"And if I'd said yes-"

"You probably would have been raped." The Warblers all turned to Sebastian with open mouths. Sebastian was leaning casually into the sofa, a bored, impatient look on his face, like he couldn't _believe_ that everyone else was so stupid. The other's though, had rather different expressions; Wes' face had paled dramatically, Jeff slipped from where he'd been leaning against the table, almost crashing to the floor, Liam's mouth was agape in horror, Nick and Flint were exchanging frantic looks, and Thad was frowning a little.

"Wh-_what_?" choked out Alvin, and Wes - still very pale in the face - was making furious slashing motions with his hands to get Sebastian to stop. Thad had just put his head in his hands, and David had his face screwed up in a horrified manner, waiting for Sebastian to say the _wrong_ thing.

"Well think about it," he said, either not noticing or not caring that everyone was trying to get him to stop talking. "your relationship had to be monogamous, any news of an affair would have been _BAD_, so that means, either you never have sex _ever_, or you sleep with him." Alvin gaped at him. "Did you _want_ to have sex with him?" Alvin shook his head, furiously.

"No-_no_!" Sebastian gave him a sanctimonious nod, like everything made sense now.

"But, the fact he _asked_ you meant that he was attracted to you, yes?" Alvin mouthed, wordlessly, at him.

"I-I…I never thought about it." Sebastian rolled his eyes again.

"Clearly," he said dryly. "anyway, non-consensual sex is rape." he shrugged. "You would have been raped, and we know that divorce isn't an option… so I think we can all agree that one forced kiss is better than a life stuck in abusive marriage." Alvin looked torn between bursting into tears or slapping Sebastian. Sebastian looked around the room, noting that everyone looked horrified. Blaine, who was also a nasty, pasty, white, was shaking his head. Sebastian rolled his eyes.

Blaine, rubbing Alvin's back, gave him a glare. "_Don't_ say another word." Sebastian sank into the sofa looking - not _smug_, but _satisfied_. Blaine turned back to Alvin. "Look, as crude as Sebastian was he had a point, right Kurt?" Kurt blinked, mind spinning from what Sebastian had said.

"Err, yes, definitely."

_Oh my god, I had no idea that he was __**so**__ messed up. He __**proposed**__ to his __**friend**__, and they all seem agreed on the fact that he __**would**__ have __**raped**__ him…I feel sick…he could have done __**that**__ to __**me**__!_

Jeff was rubbing his shoulder, and Blaine had returned to glaring at Sebastian. Sebastian glanced at Kurt, noting his features which were stuck in a mildly horrified look. Sebastian glanced at Wes who was shaking his head and looking a little bit sick.

"Sebastian," said Wes in a constricted tone of voice. "we discussed this _in Summer_! _Never -_ and I mean _ever_ - talk about things like _that_ with…with _people involved_ _**present**_!" Sebastian nodded calmly, returning to examining Kurt with steady, cool, eyes. Kurt hoped that that hadn't been part of Sebastian's revenge.

"Kurt, are you okay?" asked Blaine, concern in his face. Kurt nodded, hand winding itself into the soft material of the scarf.

"Yeah, just…the thought that he could have done _that_ to me." He shuddered and Jeff pulled him into a tight hug whilst Nick patted his back. There was a long silence before Wes banged the gavel, rubbing a hand over his mouth.

"Meeting adjourned." he said. "Same time tomorrow, please try and _look_ at your music."

* * *

_I'm not sure what happened to the week. I think it all got eaten up by the school work that I ought to have done on the weekend, and Warbler rehearsals. We're rehearsing in every second that we can - I keep getting randomly snatched from the hallways to harmonise - and I think we're getting good. I have to admit that Blaine and Sebastian really __**do**__ sing well together. It's our last rehearsal, we're skipping our last lessons and anyone with art work is setting it up in the hall. I'm so nervous, I really feel sick about performing in front of Dad with the Warblers._

"Okay, _order_!" Wes was smashing Gavella down onto the block harder than he normally did. The chattering Warblers fell silent. "This is it, and I think we're fine."

"I still think we should have done an impromptu." said David, looking a tad stressed. Wes glared at Sebastian.

"Well we would have if _someone_ had learnt their part on time." Sebastian ignored the glaring, eyes zoned onto the large windows.

Kurt could have been imaging it, because he didn't like Sebastian, but he could have _sworn_ that Sebastian had been acting very oddly all week. He didn't exactly look _well_, if his pale face was anything to go on, and he seemed to always be zoning out. He'd actually _fallen over_ in their rehearsal yesterday because he'd been staring so hard at the wall. Kurt vaguely wondered whether he'd rattled him _that much_, but Sebastian didn't seem to be ignoring him more than anyone else, in particular.

Wes sighed, rolling his eyes, and giving Blaine a pointed look. Blaine shook his head, clearly indicating that he didn't know what was wrong with Sebastian anymore than the next person. Blaine did, however, look concerned rather than exasperated, which dashed Kurt's hopes that something had gone wrong between them.

"He's you _boyfriend_." said Wes, eventually breaking the staring match. "Can't you find out? I don't want anymore mess ups." Blaine rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"You think _I_ want mess ups? My _dad_ is coming."

"Well, do _something_!" said Wes in an exasperated tone, flailing his arms around and smashing the gavel into Thad's forehead. Thad let out a cry as his chair toppled over backwards. The subsequent swearing, that was incredibly profuse and through _and -_ Kurt could have _sworn_ - contained some words that he didn't know, wasn't enough to jolt Sebastian from his fixated state. Wes was grimacing as David screwed his face up, and everyone else winced. Thad set his chair right, rubbing his forehead and procuring his middle finger for Wes. Wes gave him a brief apologetic look.

"My mistake." David moved to retrieve the gavel, and thus prevent any further injury, but Wes clutched it to his chest, hissing in a feral manner. Kurt stared at Wes, incredulously, whilst trying not to laugh _too_ hard for fear of the gavel flying at his head again.

Blaine rolled his eyes and slid from his seat, walking over to Sebastian, and squatting before the older boy. Blaine patted his knee in an attempt to gain his attention.

"Bastian," he said in a soft tone. "what's wrong?" There was a long pause until Sebastian made any indication that he had heard Blaine.

Sebastian's gaze slid onto him. His eyes went into focus all of a sudden, as if Blaine's eyes right in front of him cleared everything up. There was a very intense pause as Sebastian stared into Blaine's face. Kurt, for some inexplicable reason, felt his heart beat fast all of a sudden. Sebastian reached out, his hands coming to rest on both of Blaine's cheeks. Blaine just stared back, completely calm and clearly trusting Sebastian with whatever he was doing.

Sebastian closed the distance between them in a flash. He surged to his feet, bringing Blaine with him. Blaine stumbled backwards, slightly, and Sebastian's right arm caught him instantly, holding against him, still locked at the lips. Kurt wasn't sure what to think or feel as Blaine's hands, that had shot upwards in surprise, came to rest upon Sebastian's shoulders.

Wes' gavel came down loudly, his face somewhere between shocked and amused. David's shoulders were shaking, Thad had pulled out his phone, Jeff and Nick were sniggering into each other's shoulders and Flint had a very blank face, and kept glancing at Nick who sat next to him. The rest looked mildly taken aback, but could also sort of see the funny side of it. Kurt knew that, as he screwed up his face, he felt _insanely_ jealous.

Wes' banging gavel, each whack getting louder, didn't seem capable of stopping Sebastian from trying to inhale Blaine through his mouth (though that was just Kurt's personal opinion of what he was seeing) and in the end Wes looked like the only qualm he had about _throwing_ _it_ at Blaine and Sebastian was the possibility of damaging one of his leads when Blaine seemed to come to his senses and leapt backwards, colour rising up his neck and covering his face. Sebastian looked around, possibly a little annoyed.

"What?" he demanded. Wes' eyes went wide.

"_What_?" he screeched. "_What_? _PDA_, that's _what_!" Sebastian raised his eyebrow condescendingly whilst Blaine just hid his head in his hands.

"Wes, you have sex with your girlfriend in Crawford's pool." Wes turned red and threw his pen at Sebastian. David had clapped his hands over his ears, and Kurt choked on his breath. The rest of the Warblers looked torn between the hilarity of the situation and mortification.

"That's _not_ the point!" he said, still blushing furiously. "The _point_ is that you were _kissing_ him." Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"He's my boyfriend."

"And you were ignoring Gavella." Sebastian sent his eyes to the ceiling once more. "She's hurt, I had to hit her so hard." Sebastian fixed Wes with his most intense, condescending, glare, and Wes just continued to pout back at him. "I want you to kiss her better." Blaine, still red from humiliation, snatched the gavel and kissed it quickly. He held it out to Sebastian who took it like it contained every disease in the world.

"I'm not kissing this," he said to Wes. "just because _you_ masturbate whilst thinking of the gavel doesn't mean anyone else does." Great cries of protest went up around the room. Most people - Kurt included - covered their ears and let out "_ewws_!" at that mental image whilst Blaine smacked Sebastian, semi playfully, on the arm, and Wes doused Sebastian with his water in anger. Thad was the only person unaffected by the conversation, still on his phone.

"Oookaaay!" exclaimed David carefully, sliding the gavel to Wes when Sebastian had put it down on the table, and trying hard not to look grossed out. "Let's just practise our performance, shall we?" Kurt still had his nose wrinkled in disgust, but nodded enthusiastically with the rest, glad for the conversation to end as Wes kicked Thad's shins and the boy slipped away his phone.

_I can't believe that Sebastian just kissed Blaine. Now that the others don't find it so funny anymore they keep glancing at me…I don't know how I feel. I mean, I know that I'm not going to go and breakdown in tears over it, but I can't help but wonder whether Sebastian was making a point; as far as staking claims on Blaine's go, that was pretty huge, especially as Blaine didn't protest __**at all**__. I guess it's just another crush that I'll have to deal with…I really thought my luck might be changing as well…_

* * *

Blaine's mind was still in a state of numb shock. A meltdown approximately twice the size of Chernobyl seemed to have occurred inside his head when Sebastian's lips had met his. All rational thought failed, and he completely forgot where he was, or that there were about _15_ other people in the room. He could just feel Sebastian's lips on his, their tongues intertwined, and Sebastian's body pressed to his.

He now stood in the foyer, surrounded by art, unable to comprehend what had happened. He didn't know what had caused Sebastian to just _leap _from his seat and kiss Blaine. Blaine wasn't complaining, though - far from it, because Sebastian was an _excellent_ kisser, not that Blaine actually _any_ previous experience. That fact had caused him several sleepless nights with panic attacks at the fear of Sebastian breaking up with him because of it. Even Thad's endless patience, which Blaine greatly admired seeing as he'd practically _grown up_ with Nick, seemed to be wearing thin. In fact, he'd offered to _kiss_ Blaine and _tell him_ if he was a bad if it got him to shut up and allowed Thad to sleep. Blaine had been stunned into to silence for several minutes, before declining. He'd rolled over, and then sat back up, curiosity piqued, and asked if Thad had a girlfriend. The light had turned off, Thad had thrown a stress ball at the switch, and Blaine had giggled himself to sleep at the idea of Thad secretly dating one of the Crawford girls.

"Blaine," Blaine's mind slowly chugged into first gear as he looked at Nick who was grinning slyly at him. "are you in there?" Blaine shoved his friend.

"Shut up!" he said, shoving Nick's shoulder again.

"Blaine, you were brain dead, _literally_!" exclaimed Jeff, and Blaine squirmed at the knowing looks other people kept shooting him. He was getting a lot of nudges, winks and he was also _dreading_ the moment when the news reached Keats. _Really dreading_. He'd have a panic attack about it, but his mind wasn't capable of moving so fast. Also, their parents were going to be here, and if there was _one thing_ that Keats wasn't, it was stupid.

"What about Keats?" he asked in a murmur, noticing that Kurt was standing a couple of feet away with Juri, looking at Chris' exhibition. There were long looks exchanged, and then the others sighed.

"I guess this'll answer all our questions. If he's being honest, nothing ought to happen, if he's making it up…" David trailed off, pointed look on his face, and Blaine screwed up his face in annoyance. Blaine sighed, and glanced at Flint who was studying the pattern on the floor.

"Flint, are you okay?" Flint nodded. Blaine shot Nick a confused glance. The dark haired boy simply shrugged and turned to Thad.

"Is Aunty Hailey coming?" he asked, and his response was a nasty face that clearly read 'I-_sincerely_-hope-not'.

"I don't understand what your problem with your mum is." said David. "I mean I know she's…um, well, _odd_-" there were raised eyebrows "-but you still must love her." Thad gave him another look that read 'if-you-lived-with-her-you'd-understand'. Nick nodded.

"Seriously, she's _terrible_…" Nick shuddered. "I'm so glad that dad found out what was going on…" he shook his head, making a sick face. Blaine looked between the boys, having an inkling of what they were talking about, but also guessing that there was something more to it - neither boy talked about Thad's home life. However, Nick didn't seem to want to say anymore, and Thad never said anything _anyway_ so they fell into an uncomfortable silence as they watched Kurt peruse the art with wide eyes, and Juri bounced along after him, being prevented from crashing into anything by Drew, who had a pained look on his face.

"So, which of your many relatives are coming?" asked Jeff turning to his roommate. David smiled.

"I _know_ Katelyn and Rosanne are…and Todd should be. I'm not sure about Victor and Craig, but, obviously, Adam can't." David shrugged. "I don't really mind, I'm just- Daley's been texting me, along with Adam, and I'm _really_ starting to get worried about mum." Blaine pulled on his blazer cuffs, as the others gave David sympathetic smiles.

"Are you going to spend New Year with her?" David shrugged.

"Don't know…I'll see how she is." he sighed, hands sinking into the grey trouser pockets. Jeff clapped him on the shoulder, squeezing it briefly, and giving him a tense smile.

"What about your mum?" Jeff rolled his eyes, and shook his head.

"You think my _mum_ would come to a _concert_, Blaine? How long have known me for, again?" Blaine rolled his eyes.

"I thought she came last summer?" said Flint, looking confused. Jeff rolled his eyes.

"_Yes_, but only because she needed to speak to my teachers in person…" he shook his head. "She's far too busy." There was a long pause and then the other boys all nodded. Jeff rubbed his eyes in a tired fashion, and Kurt came running over to them, trailing Juri and Drew.

"This is _amazing_!" he exclaimed, and Blaine had to laugh at the light in his eyes. "When does the concert start?"

…'_cause I __**really**__ want to see dad, and for him to see that I'm __**really**__ fine at Dalton, crude comments and heartbreak aside. _

Blaine glanced at his watch, yawning slightly, and blinking.

"Parents should be arriving soon, we should be moving to the stage, actually, you need to get your crest." Kurt's eyes lit up further at the mention of the crest, the one thing that was preventing him from performing a solo.

"Great!" he exclaimed, rubbing his palms together. Blaine put his hand in his pocket, clenching around the small box that contained his scholarship crest. The silence that had befallen them was mildly awkward because, for some reason, nobody seemed to inclined to move.

Kurt looked between the boys, sensing that something was wrong. Drew had vanished with Juri, muttering something about finding Chris and apologising, and Kurt wondered what was wrong. Nobody looked that happy, whilst Kurt was internally ecstatic. He was looking forward to seeing his father, and Carole and Finn, and maybe the New Directions because Finn had said that there would be some "_surprise_" guests.

"Are you guys okay?" They all shrugged as one, no one sure whether they were "_okay_". Nick let out a long sigh.

"I wish dad was coming, not fucking _Tristan_;… "_why haven't you got a solo?_" "_your academics are terrible_" "_you're a failure_"…" Kurt raised an eyebrow at Nick as he mimicked someone in a high-pitched voice.

"Is that your…"

"Step-dad, unfortunately." Kurt nodded as there was nothing he could say to that, in all honesty, and he was beginning to feel more and more awkward in the presence of the unhappy looking boys.

"So, um, who _is_ your dad?" They had all made a unanimous decision to begin walking to the hall, and Kurt felt the strong need to start up conversation again. Therefore, he'd allowed his curiosity in regards to what Nick had said at lunch take over. Nick gave him a confused look before rolling his eyes.

"Do you know the author P. J. Croiser?" Kurt raised an eyebrow at him, semi-condescending, clearly asking who _hadn't_ heard of P. j. Croiser, who was almost as successful as J. K. herself.

"Of course, _everyone_ has. I mean, even _I've_ read _One Night_." There were raised eyebrows from the boys.

"You've read _One Night_?" asked Nick, in disbelief. Kurt nodded.

"It's a good book, despite the excessive amount of violence…it's the characters that I like. It's why I read _The Guide_, too." There were a couple of raised eyebrows.

"Do you watch the TV show?" asked David in interest, Kurt nodded, mouth falling open as he remembered that it was _David's_ dad who directed the main bulk of the episodes, _and_ that he was directing the film adaptation of _One Night_.

"Your dad is _P. J. Croiser_?" demanded Kurt, staring at Nick in open-mouthed wonder. Nick gave him a smirk in response. A look of sheer wonder continued to sit upon his face as they others chuckled. "But I thought he was, like, _sixty-something_!" Nick grinned at him, his perfect white teeth showing.

"Yeah, he is… he was…fifty-three when he had me." Kurt raised his eyebrows, calculating that Nick's father must be about sixty-eight, sixty-_nine_, almost _seventy_, older than Kurt had thought.

"Wow…" he said, slowly, not really sure what to say and feeling a tad awkward about bringing the subject up. Searching around inside his head for a way to change the conversation, he landed on the other thing he'd suddenly noticed. "Dalton's _really_ posh." They nodded as one.

"You won't have noticed, yet, but just about everyone here as rich and/or famous and/or important and/or influential families." Kurt raised an eyebrow at Blaine, not quite having pictured Dalton as quite such an elitist school - despite the high tuition fees - because of it's strict zero tolerance policy. However, he seemed to be quite wrong.

"So, wait, even you too?" He looked at Blaine in a beseeching manner, begging him to say no as he was beginning to feel a bit out of place. Blaine nodded.

"I fall into the "_rich_" category; my dad's a specialist lawyer." Kurt nodded, thinking that he could handle that.

"Yeah, the only exception is Thad's mum." Kurt looked at the silent boy, who possibly looked mildly queasy.

"So, what does Thad's mum do?" The other boys laughed whilst Thad fixed his gaze, pointedly, in the opposite direction. "What?"

"Erm, well, Thad's mum – dear Aunty Hailey – is a prostitute." Kurt gaped at the boy whose ears had turned faintly pink.

"What? _Actually_?" Thad nodded, and Nick snickered under his breath, shaking his head.

"I'll never forget the time we tried to prank her whilst she "_worked_"…no seven year old needs to see _that_, I swear we were traumatised…" Kurt's mouth fell open further, all thought of famous families, or worry about not fitting in, forgotten.

"She-she brings…"_customers_" to your house!" Thad nodded, again, ears still flushed. Kurt blinked at him once more, silently deciding to _not_ ask about his father, before he cleared his throat as they stepped into the hall.

Kurt's mouth fell open again. The hall looked _completely_ different. Gone was the stage and raised seating, and in it's place was a lower platform for performance and lots of round tables with chairs. Kurt cast his eyes up, noting the circle seating remained but numerous chandeliers had been added to the ceiling as most of the stage lights had been taken down. He gawped at the transformations, not sure whether to believe his eyes.

_Just when I think I've gotten my head around it all…I thought learning about David's family was bad, but they're __**all**__ rich…and Thad's mum! I __**can't**__ believe that, but…wow, and what they've done to the hall! It's __**incredible**__! I feel so…the concert feels so __**important**__! I __**never**__ felt like that at McKinley…I'll make sure I tell dad __**that**__. _

"_How_…?" demanded Kurt, eyes travelling back around the hall. The other boys chuckled and nodded.

"Pretty neat, huh?" Kurt nodded, dumbstruck, allowing the others to guide him to wherever they wanted to go.

"Why?" he asked, not bothered his original question had not been answered. The others shrugged.

"Not really sure," said Blaine. "but it's probably because this is one of the few times parents come to Dalton; it's not just a concert, but a chance to talk to teachers and "_build connections_" with other parents-"

"-and your kid," added Jeff. "but that doesn't work if they don't _come_." Kurt swallowed, detecting the bitterness in Jeff's voice.

"So, um, when _will_ I get my crest?" The boys looked at each other, and then glanced around the room.

"Um," said Blaine, blinking slightly. "whenever Sebastian - _wherever_ he is - turns up; he has your crest."

"We should put ours on," said Nick, looking around again. "before we run into Mrs Daniels." The others nodded, and Kurt watched as they drew the crests from their breast pockets and fixed them to their left lapel. They then proceeded to fix other pins below that. Kurt eyed them; noting one which had a yellow bird on what looked - to Kurt - like the end of an arrow shaft with two semi-quavers beside it's tail. Blaine also had one which was Football posts with a ball between them, another was a football with two clashing boots above it, and the other two were a punch bag with boxing gloves by the side and a fencing mask with an epee across it. The others had a similar collection of pins, but Thad had three shields as well. One was the house crest of Franklin, and the two were the crest blazoned with an ink pot and quill and a quaver.

"_Kurt_!" Kurt spun around and saw the _entire_ New Directions, minus Lauren but including Mr Schue, and his dad and Carole, hurrying towards him. He let out a laugh of pleasant surprise and ran over to them. He threw his arms around his step-brother, and then Mercedes, hugging his best friend tightly. When she released him the happy New Directions mobbed him. Kurt hugged Mr Schue, glad to see his teacher again, and then hugged Carole and his father.

"You okay, son?" asked Burt, eyeing his son up and down, trying to assess his state. Kurt smiled at his dad, happily, having had one of his best weeks at Dalton.

"I'm _fine_, dad," he said, smile still in place. "_really_." his friends came over, hands in their trouser pockets and trying to look casual.

"Hey Blaine." said Finn, raising a hand in greeting.

"Hello Finn." greeted Blaine, nodding at Kurt's step-brother. The New Direction boys squared up to the Warblers and the girls looked slightly awkward as the last time they'd met Blaine had exploded.

"Hi," said David, stepping up to Blaine' shoulder. "I don't think we've been introduced." Kurt went a little pink under Blaine's pointed stare, and hurriedly introduced all his friends to each other. He was just searching for another topic of conversation when Sebastian arrived.

"Kurt, there you are." he said, reaching in his pocket. "You need your crest, and Blaine I think I saw your sisters." Blaine paled, rapidly, and David patted his shoulder. "Daley said your step-dads might be late, by the way David." David rolled his eyes, but nodded anyway. "Anyway, Kurt, come here." Kurt walked over to Sebastian, and Sebastian withdrew a red velvet box from his pocket and clipped the crest onto Kurt's blazer. "Welcome to Franklin." he said, possibly dryly, stepping back as he was given a brief round of applause. "Blaine." Blaine pulled out his scholarship crest.

"There," he said, attaching the same crest with a quaver as Thad bore onto Kurt's lapel. "you're really one of us."

"Which means you better put these on before Mrs Daniels sees you." Kurt caught the two pin boxes and saw the Warbler pin and two pompoms with crossed tassels. "Put the Warbler one on first." added Sebastian, and Kurt nodded, carefully attacking the pins.

"Blaine," said Wes, appearing from nowhere. "I don't want to alarm you, but your dad is marching around looking for-"

"_Blaine_!" came two excited cries, and they all looked around to see two blonde heads come sprinting towards them. Blaine grinned and ran towards them, almost bowling them to the ground as he caught them in a hug. Kurt watched, interested, as the two blonde girls detached from him, and Blaine hugged a blonde woman who couldn't be much older than thirty-three.

"And here comes- oh god!" Nick had been staring at two tall men, but his gaze was diverted to a thirty year old woman in ridiculous high heels, a mini skirt and a tight-fitting top with a close cut leather jacket, striding towards Thad. Thad paled as eyebrows were raised, and Kurt caught Flint's arm.

"How- how old is she?" Flint turned a pained face to Kurt.

"Thirty."

"But- but…"

"We know." he muttered as Thad gulped, and Nick shoved him forward. A look that was the perfect hybrid of terrified and petrified covered his face as he greeted his mum, and led her away. Nick shook his head as eyes turned to follow her.

"Squirt, you ain't grown!" Kurt's eyes flew back to Blaine, and felt his mouth drop open. _Cooper Anderson_ was swinging his arm around Blaine's shoulder, and Blaine had a pained look of amusement on his face. _Cooper Anderson_ was Blaine's brother!

"Shocking, huh?" said Jeff with a smirk, taking in Kurt's stunned face, and the squeaks and gawks of the New Directions.

"I-I-oh my _god_! He's so- I can't believe that! I'm so- I can't believe _he's_ here!" There were chuckles from the other boys.

"You haven't seen _anything_ yet." promised David. "_That_ is just a warm-up." Kurt swallowed, remembering that two stars from _Chokehold_ would be descending on the building.

"_Davey_!" came the cry, and Rachel squealed out loud as Rosanne Watters shoved Mr Anderson out of the way, and David ran into her arms as Katelyn swept in on his other side. Kurt was _sure_ his eyes were deceiving him. The warning didn't prepare him for _seeing_ them. His heart leapt into his mouth as Cooper looked at him, and Katelyn moved over to hug Jeff, Nick and Flint. Rosanne was smiling at Cooper and Blaine, and David pulled Kurt over.

"Katelyn, Rosanne, this is my new friend, Kurt, he's a _big_ fan." The two women shook his shaking hand with smiles on their faces, clearly use to rendering boys speechless.

"It's such an _honour_ to meet you." he stuttered out, voice high from suppressed shock, excitement and laughter. Their conversation was put on hold, though, by the loud voice of Blaine's father.

"…loosing your scholarship, absolutely _disgraceful_!"

"But, _dad_-"

"I'm in half a mind to pull you out!"

"_Elliot_!"

"You know what, you're coming back to Chicago with us-" Kurt felt his eyebrow rise at the mention of the Windy City having assumed Blaine was from Ohio. "-and we're _never_ setting _foot_ in the this state again!"

"And they say _I'm_ into dramatics!" The conversation - or rather argument - was cut short by the sound of crying. Kurt saw that the elder of the blonde children - somewhere in the back of his mind he recalled her name was Anna - had her hands over her face, crying. She flung herself onto her father's leg, closely followed by Megan, and they began to wail about how much they hated arguments. His concern, which had flared quickly, was abated by the smirks on people's faces, including Emily's, and he realised they were faking.

"Now, what's all this crying about?" Kurt thought he would actually faint when Victor Stark and Craig Malloy, accompanied by a man he could only assume was Todd Sommers, stepped up behind Blaine, and David let out an excited cry, running into the three of them. Jeff patted his shoulder, chuckling, under his breath as David stepped back and the actors waved down at the suddenly cheerful looking girls.

"Guys, you have to-" whatever David was going to say, Kurt was only vaguely registering it as his mind continued to hum with shock, was cut off by the reappearance of a terse looking Sebastian.

"We're performing; _now_." he said, and, right on cue, a bell began to sound through the hall. Kurt straightened his jacket, fixed his tie self-consciously, and got grins from the other boys.

"You'll be _amazing_." said Rachel, and Kurt noticed that the faces of the New Directions were shining with anticipation, even though they'd already seen the Warblers perform.

"Kurt, stage, _now_." Kurt looked away from the New Directions to the Warblers who were all standing by Sebastian, and Kurt knew that he was meant to jump to attention as Sebastian was head boy. He hurried over to their side and they beckoned him over to the stage. The last things that Kurt saw, before he was ushered onto the stage was a man and a woman hurry in and sit by Thad's mum, and Keats, staring past his father's head, and smiling up at Kurt.

Kurt took a deep breath, and looked at Wes who was near his shoulder. Wes gave him an easy, winning smile, reaching forward to clap a hand onto his shoulder. Kurt felt strangely reassured by the gesture because he'd not really had a proper conversation with the older boy.

"Take it easy, Kurt, you'll be fine." Kurt gave him a smile and lowered his head as the curtain was raised and he lowered his head, counting down to when they ought to begin to sing;

_Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum_

The Warblers were under one concentrated spotlight as they began to the familiar harmony as they bounced up and down in time to the music. Kurt could feel his heart going crazy as he moved in time to Edward's beat.

_What's wrong with me?_

_Why do I feel like this?_

_I'm going crazy now_

Sebastian's voice was played over the speaker system. It was digitally altered to sound slightly creepy, and people twisted around in their seats to try and work out where it was coming from. Kurt could feel the excitement picking up in the room.

_No more gas in the rig_

The Warblers split and let Blaine stride down the middle. He had a show smile on his face that was still capable of stopping Kurt's heart as he came to stand by his side.

_Can't even get it started_

The Warblers gave a reply to Blaine, doing in an independent routine to Blaine by crossing their arms in front of them and then jumping, knees high, and dropped their arms by their sides.

_Nothing heard, nothing said_

_Can't even speak about it_

He could see the New Directions grinning at him as he slid out from behind Nick, back to Blaine's side as Blaine shot him a small smile, and Kurt just kept thinking about the notes.

_All my life on my head_

_Don't want to think about it_

_Feels like I'm going insane, yeah_

_It's a thief in the night_

_To come and grab you_

Sebastian appeared from behind Mrs Daniel's chair, making the deputy head jump into the air, as he prowled around the back and Hammonds laughed.

_It can creep up inside you_

_And consume you_

Sebastian was stalking around the hall, appearing behind people's chairs, and ghosting over their heads, severely freaking them out as he leaned and then away, controlling the volume of his voice perfectly.

_A disease of the mind_

_It can control you_

_It's too close for comfort_

The only New Direction who didn't jump when Sebastian passed their table was Santana, who just shot the soloist a scornful look. Kurt could have sworn that his incredibly creepy expression twitched, as he smirked at her, before continuing to look like some sort of psychopathic mass-murderer.

_Throw on your brake lights_

_We're in the city of wonder_

Blaine ran towards Sebastian, jumping the step down to the hall floor as Sebastian dashed around the tables to the empty, level, space at the front. Their voices were strong together, and Kurt could see that Blaine had eyes for no one but Sebastian.

_Ain't gonna play nice_

_Watch out, you might just go under_

_Better think twice_

_Your train of thought will be altered_

_So if you must falter be wise_

Kurt had to admit, as he continued to dance and sway in complete sync with the main bulk of Warblers, that their performance was startling him slightly. He'd gotten the impression, as Blaine had gnawed on his lip most evenings in the common room and talked out loud, that he was _terrified_ of his father. It was kind of weird, therefore - for Kurt - that he danced and sung with such freedom. It was like he'd _forgotten_ everything…

_Your mind is in disturbia_

_It's like the darkness is the light_

_Disturbia_

_Am I scaring you tonight?_

_Disturbia_

_Ain't used to what you like_

_DisturbiaD_

_isturbia_

He caught sight of the New Directions, clapping along, and caught Rachel's eyes. She rolled them at him, and mouthed the word "_smile_!", indicating to her mouth and giving him a huge show grin. He almost rolled his eyes, but realised that he probably did look a little too serious, and pulled a grin onto his face, letting himself feel excited again.

_Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum_

He followed Wes off the stage, keeping his torso bent forward, head up, arms hanging by his side and skipping with his knees as high as he could without kicking himself. He fell into place next to Wes, grinning back at his friend as Sebastian and Blaine turned around and dashed back onto the stage.

_Release me from this curse I'm in_

The spotlights swooped back onto the two boys as Sebastian took the main vocal line, and the heads of all the Warblers turned to stare at them as he put a fake look of pleading.

_Trying to maintain but I'm struggling_

Blaine had an apologetic look on his face as he shrugged, skip in his step as backed away from Sebastian across the stage.

_You can't go, go, go_

Sebastian thrust his finger at Blaine with a dramatic expression and a daring expression on his face, and Kurt had to admit that he could _act_.

_I think I'm going to oh, oh, oh_

Blaine had a childish grin on his face as he skipped off the stage and weaved through the Warblers that were assembled on the ground.

_Throw on your brake lights_

_We're in the city of wonder_

Sebastian "_pushed_" Jeff and David apart. Both boys did flips, and then jumped, arms bent so that their hands were near their face, fingers splayed, and leg furthest from the soloist bent, and back leg straight.

_Ain't gonna play nice_

_Watch out, you might just go under_

The two boys landed, and tucked into a roll. Lying on their backs they bent their legs and pushed themselves up and over with their arms, and Kurt had to marvel at their gymnastic ability, something he was sure had somehow improved since their practise earlier that day.

_Better think twice_

_Your train of thought will be altered_

_So if you must falter be wise_

_Your mind is in disturbia_

_It's like the darkness is the light_

_Disturbia_

_Am I scaring you tonight_

_Disturbia_

_Ain't used to what you like_

_Disturbia_

Slowly, in twos, the Warblers hopped back onto the stage with spins and leaps. Kurt, one of the last people to go back onto the stage, took a run up and did a handspring, landing on stage to the whoops and cheers of the New Directions. Wes just did a tuck jump, and then Blaine and Sebastian ran on as one, spinning in the air, and facing the audience with smiles as it came to the end of the song.

_Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum_

The song came to an end and the hall erupted into applause. They took a bow, and Kurt was shocked to find that his legs were shaking. He stumbled off the stage, knees slightly weak, and he felt hands collide with his back in congratulations. He felt completely exhilarated; god how he'd missed performing on stage. God how he'd missed performing full stop. He took a couple of deep breaths as he saw Blaine and Sebastian hugging and laughing into each other's faces. He swallowed, not wanting his high state of happiness to be ruined, and turned in time to see Nick bounding into him, almost knocking him flat.

"You did, _Kurtsie_, you did your performance and now you can _si-ng_!" Kurt raised an eyebrow at the high note that Nick produced, and everyone turned to look at him. There was a cough and Kurt saw that Juri was standing there, horn in hand, waiting to go on stage. Kurt felt excitement flair up inside of him, glad that he finally got a chance to hear his friend play, and gladly filed out of the side of the stage and dashed to his seat next to his father as Juri finished tuning, and raised his eyes to meet someone's in the crowd. Twisting his body, Kurt could see that Juri held the gaze of a man who was around fifty and had the same piercing, electrical, eyes as Juri. Kurt guessed that he was his father and watched the man's expression change as Juri raised the mouthpiece to his lips and began to play.

Kurt was stunned into an open-mouthed stupor within the first couple of seconds. He was playing _something_ - Kurt had honestly just forgotten - but Kurt didn't care about that because it was so _beautiful_. He cared that Juri was playing with a sort of…_mournfulness_, a _longing_ that Kurt could not _believe_ was coming from his cheerful friend. Juri always had a smile on his face; be it a sheepish one because he'd crashed into something, or a happy one because he was naturally excitable. The most incredible thing, though, was the way that Kurt, himself, was feeling it. It reminded him of quiet days and silent nights after his mum died, of trips to the cemetery, of loneliness as he got older and realised he'd _never_ fit in, of multitudinous crowds of nameless people that all _didn't care_, of his first night at Dalton when he'd been adrift in a sea of helplessness, anger and loneliness.

Looking around the hall Kurt saw that most of the occupants were similarly moved - to a state of having tears in their eyes - by the music. He noticed that most of the New Directions looked somewhere between amazed and flabbergasted, and guessed that they, too, had never been _this_ touched by a piece of music that was so old it made Mr Schue look modern, or that had no words. The older students, who had all heard Juri play before, still looked moved, but were also grinning in a way that suggested they hadn't thought he could do anything _new_. However, not everyone was paying as close attention as Fred - he'd fallen off his seat twice - and Kurt actually had to _clench his fists_ when saw that Parker's hearing aide was off, and that Vince seemed to have already dozed off. Keats was watching Kurt, not Juri - something which made him a little self-conscious and had also captured his dad's attention - but he glanced away when his eyes met Kurt's.

The first half of the concert flew by in a continuous stream of music; be it the jaunty jig Mac had played, the medley of theme tunes the brass ensemble had produced, Travis' operatic performance or the canon that finished the first half from the chamber orchestra, and Kurt was amazed by _every_ performance. He had never really thought about it before, but everyone was not just clever and rich, but also _talented_. His brain seemed to have been melted into a puddle by the sheer _awesomeness _of the music.

_This is __**amazing**__! I can't __**believe**__ how good everyone who performs in these things are. I'm not a fan of classical music, but I'd pay __**good money**__ to hear this. Like, __**really**__, good money._

* * *

"Dude," said Finn, standing up and stretching. "that was _epic_!" Kurt grinned at his step-brother, who, like him, had been completely blown away by the whole event. "Like, _totally_, epic! I mean, I don't like classical stuff, but that guy on the horn…and the singer…" He shook his head in disbelief. "I mean, _how_ did he do that, _seriously_?"

"I believe Travis has had classical training." Kurt jumped off the ground when he heard Keats' voice, his hand flew over his chest.

"_Jesus_, Keats, you scared me!" Kurt turned to look at the wavy haired boy with a soft smile, eyes rolling slightly in a faintly amused gesture. Keats smiled, softly, eyes still so calm, and held up his hands.

"I'm sorry." Kurt let out another stop, still smiling at him, and his family shifted, coughing. "Hello, Mr Hummel, um, Mrs Hummel, Finn."

"Hey," said Finn, raising a hand, looking just a touch awkward. "nice to see you…" Keats nodded, polite smile still in place, and Kurt gently took Keats' hand, not feeling at all awkward about the gesture, and pulled him over to the other table.

"This is the New Directions," he said, making a sweeping gesture with his arm. Keats smiled at them all, and some of the girls - he thought that it was Tina and Rachel - giggled a little, and Santana winked at him. Keats blinked in confusion.

"Um…hello, it's nice to meet you all."

"Ignore Santana," said Kurt, having caught sight out the action. "she's Satan, in disguise." Keats nodded, a small grin appearing on his face.

"I see, which vision of the Devil are we going for?…'cause I'm seeing Liz Hurley, but not Mark Pellegrino or Jared Padalecki." Most of the boys laughed at that.

"Oh, you watch _Supernatural_?" questioned Artie, and Keats nodded. Kurt stared at the boy, not picturing gore as his thing, but let him fall into a good-natured conversation with other members of the New Directions anyway.

"You're at quite a school, Kurt." said Mr Schue with a smile. "You're talent's in very good hands." Kurt grinned up at his teacher, glad that his talent was _finally_ being acknowledged. "I'm a little surprised, though, that you weren't up there." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"I couldn't." he explained. "I needed this." he said, tapping to the crest on his lapel. "but I've got it now, so you should be very worried about your chances at Regionals."

"Oh, believe me, I am…there are only two benefits, that I can see, of your voice; one, Sue might loose cheerleading, and, two, we might just topple Vocal Adrenaline." Kurt nodded, smiling at the thought of his two biggest rivals being crushed.

"_**Keaton**_!" the loud voice of Senator Powers boomed through the hall, ripping through all the conversations and stopping Kurt's reply on his lips. Keats winced, his shoulders hunching slightly and the light dimming in his grey eyes.

"Better run." he muttered, shaking his head and looking around as if he was about to cross a road before darting off in the crowd of adults and students.

"Kurt," his dad had reappeared and had a rather amused look in his eyes that made Kurt just a tad uneasy. "I've just been speaking to some of your teachers." Kurt groaned, mind cycling through who it could have been and _hoping_ that it hadn't been Mrs Daniel, Professor Lloyd or Luc.

"Which ones?" he asked, cautiously.

"A Mr Sutherland and Mr Hartfield, they tell me you've made some _interesting_ friends." Kurt groaned at the thought of Trinity, who had been suspiciously inconspicuous this evening now that Kurt thought about it. Burt's lips quirked in amusement at the thoroughly exasperated expression on his son's face.

"They're _insane_." explained Kurt. "I don't know why, but they like me…and I somehow like them…" Burt clapped a hand down on his shoulder.

"They told me you were doing well in your lessons, Mr Sutherland certainly likes you-" Kurt rolled his eyes because Mr Sutherland liked _everyone_, especially _Trinity_. "And you seem to be making a lot of friends…I'm glad." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"I told you everything was fine." Burt nodded.

"I know, but I'm your dad, it's my job to worry over you." Kurt smiled, nodding, and looking around the room, catching a glimpse of Juri chattering to his father at a million miles an hour, Nick with his fingers in his ears, David and the others being mobbed by excited fans, and Flint and Jeff sitting on the stage looking grouchy.

_Looks like some people didn't get told about __**that**__ job…_

"Hey, Kurt." Blaine had wandered over, biting his lip a little bit, and Kurt knew that it was almost his turn to perform. The interval, brief as it had been, was almost at an end, and Blaine was the third performance of the second half, the first two being the concert band and Braden on the cello.

"Hi." he said, smiling at him whilst the New Direction ladies giggled slightly. "You were really good." Blaine went slightly red remembering the performance, and shook his head.

"Yes…anyway, can you listen to what I'm going to sing?" Kurt blinked, eyes going slightly wide at the question.

"Err, yes, of course." Blaine gave him a slight smile.

"Good…thank you…it's- not _all_ of it, but most of it…" he seemed to become tongue tied and shook his head, pink in the face. "Yeah, I need to go." he said, dashing away, still blushing. The New Direction girls began to laugh harder.

"Shut _up_!" he exclaimed, snatching up the programme and whacking at the girls. "It's not like _that_! Blaine's my _friend_, he _doesn't _like me like _that!"_ The girls continued to giggle, and Kurt just crossed his arms and huffed as the lights began to dim around the stage and lit up the concert band that sat on the stage, ready to play. Warren Gallagher stood up and began to tune the group, hands clenched around his flute.

Kurt was glad that he didn't have to wait long to hear Blaine play because his stomach was knotting together in a painful manner. He knew what Blaine was singing, it was the first thing he'd looked for in the programmes, and kind of knew what it would be because it had been sounding through Franklin for a week, but Kurt wandered just _what_ Blaine wanted him to take away from it. He didn't know the song overly well, and he hadn't looked it up because he'd been looking forward to Blaine performing it properly, and changing it, like he had done with _Love Song_.

Kurt felt a tiny smile appearing on his face as Blaine patted Braden on the back as the cellist left the stage, and Blaine walked on, guitar in hand. Kurt blinked, not having known that Blaine could play the guitar, and watched him sit down on the stool, eyes nervously flicking to his family who sat at their own table. His step-mum and half-sisters looked excited, Cooper bored and his father had a blank stare that Kurt guessed meant he was reserving judgement.

Blaine began to the play the intro, gently strumming the guitar, and keeping his eyes fixed on his hands. He had his head bowed, one foot resting on the floor, and the other on the stool. He looked completely composed, and Kurt felt his heart flip as Blaine looked up.

_This town is colder now, I think it's sick of us_

Kurt felt his heart stop as Blaine's eyes met his. There was an utter, deep, _sadness_ in them and Kurt didn't even need to _think_ about what Blaine was singing about because it was exactly how Kurt felt about McKinley. That strange feeling when the bullying just got _worse_. How it always been _bad_, but then, for some reason, it had gotten _worse_.

_It's time to make our move, I'm shakin off the rust_

_I've got my heart set on anywhere but here_

Kurt had to blink back tears at the powerful memories that it forced to the front of his mind. Days coming home from school, washing his ruined clothes, and just going on the computer, scouring the internet for a different school. A school that was fair. That treated gay people right. A school that was _not_ McKinley.

_I'm staring down myself, counting up the years_

And even after he'd found Dalton, and he'd found how expensive it was. It had still been that waiting game. That motion of counting out each day. Promising that himself that he only had so many days left, but it was _so long_. He had had _years_ left…

_Steady hands, just take the wheel..._

_And every glance is killing me_

It had hurt, not just the shoving into the lockers, and the slushees and the insults, but the _stares_. The people that just _stared_. That stood by and did _nothing_ when he was slammed against a locker. That didn't help him as his books were scattered, when he fell to floor. That just _watched. _

_Time to make one last appeal... for the life I lead_

It felt like that when Coach Sylvester had called him into her office to tell him that the board of governors had overturned Karofsky's expulsion. It was like he had to appeal for his _right_ to be gay. To live life the way that he wanted to, to be who he was.

_Stop and stare_

_I think I'm moving but I go nowhere_

Looking into Blaine's eyes, because they were still fixed on his, he saw that Blaine understood all of this. That this was what he'd gone through, like Blaine understood that feeling that Kurt had had to experience everything all over again. That he knew how he felt to run from something, and then experience it again.

_Yeah I know that everyone gets scared_

_But I've become what I can't be, oh_

Blaine knew how it felt to try and stay strong, to _want_ to be strong when you just feel weak, and a coward. How hard it was to keep your head up and not let them win.

_Stop and stare_

_You start to wonder why you're here not there_

_And you'd give anything to get what's fair_

_But fair ain't what you really need_

Blaine looked away from Kurt, sure that the other boy had picked up on his message, and looked at Sebastian. Sebastian, who was standing near the wings, gave a light snort and Blaine gave him a half smile in return. Sebastian eventually nodded, saying that he understood the point Blaine was trying to make, and Blaine dipped his head in acknowledgement.

_Oh, can you see what I see_

Blaine looked away from Sebastian, and focused in on his family. Anna was smiling at him, brushing the hair that kept falling her face away. Emily had Meg sitting in her lap, and Meg was clapping along, even though it wasn't really that kind of song. Emily was nodding at him, smiling encouragingly. Blaine flicked his eyes to Cooper and was shocked by what he saw.

His brother looked _impressed_. Blaine had to focus on the lyrics and the chords to keep his focus as his mind spun at the revelation. Cooper never looked impressed. Blaine was never good enough for him. Had it really been so long since Cooper had heard him sing? Had he really improved that much? Had Cooper changed? He'd seemed a little different, but… He shook his head mildly. It was strange, but not unwelcome, after all he'd sort his brother's praise for years, for as long as he could remember.

His father was the hardest to read. His face wasn't precisely blank, but he didn't quite look _impressed_ or proud. Then again, his father had stopped being proud of him years ago. That being said, he wasn't angry, or annoyed, or disgusted. Blaine had no idea whether he was making progress or not. It made him nervous, and he almost stumbled over the chords he was meant to be playing. He just had to stay focused and finish the song.

_Stop and stare_

_I think I'm moving but I go nowhere_

_Yeah I know that everyone gets scared_

_But I've become what I can't be_

_Oh, do you see what I see..._

He let out a long breath when he came to the end, sweating profusely under the spotlights, and staring at his dad, trying to have tell him that he couldn't change. That he was who he was. Blaine wasn't sure he'd presented his point well, though, but he got up and bowed, feeling the guitar slip in his sweaty palm and gave Aaron a high-five as the boy ran on to play the piano.

Sebastian pulled him into the folds of the curtain as the keys began to tinkle in a lively manner, telling them that Aaron had set about playing. Blaine set down his guitar in the stand that Sebastian had brought for him, allowing Sebastian to keep one arm wound around his waist.

"So, I see that you've taken to delivering me messages through song." he said in a whisper so as not to disrupt the recital that was being given. Blaine smirked at him.

"You're not good at listening." Sebastian narrowed his eyes at Blaine, possibly insulted but probably more amused at Blaine.

"Touche, Blaine, touche…However, two may play a game." Blaine felt his face fall, slightly worried by the smirk on Sebastian's face.

"Bastian…" he said, worriedly. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing Blaine." he said, patting him on the head as if he were five. Blaine scowled up at him, wishing he'd looked at the programme and found out what Sebastian was planning to sing. Blaine didn't really have anything to say to Sebastian after that, still mildly worried about what he was planning. Blaine opened his mouth to demand to know something more about what ever Sebastian was going to do, but was silenced by the presence of Sebastian's mouth over his.

Blaine was sure that he was never going to be able to get use to the sensation of being kissed. It was heart attack inducing because, unlike last time where it had stopped out of shock, it was beating at a wild pace, attempting to break free from his rib cage. Blaine was fairly sure that the rushing in his head, the way it seemed to spin around and around, was going to leave him dizzy and close to fainting. All strength went from his legs, and he needed Sebastian's arms around his waist to hold him upright.

He broke for air when his lungs burnt for air, but the rest of his body - despite being sent haywire by the physical contact - cried to be pressed against Sebastian's again, to be as close to one as they could be. He breathed deeply, trying to control himself. However, he couldn't control the slight moan that escaped his lips as Sebastian leant backwards, creating a greater distance between them. Sebastian smirked at the power he held over Blaine, and Blaine's worries and insecurities just melted into nothing when Sebastian leant back in, hands pulling him upwards, and kissed him again.

An awkward cough broke them apart. Blaine, whose mind had been occupying some distant world in which he and Sebastian skipped through bright fields hand in hand, turned around quickly. Aaron was standing there, looking very awkward with the situation, and clearly wishing that he'd walked off the other way. Blaine felt the flush creep up his neck as Aaron just stared at them for the longest time, and the Wind Quintet began to play in the background.

Eventually, another cough caused Blaine to glance back over Sebastian's shoulder, and saw _Mrs Daniels_ standing behind him and Sebastian. Sebastian cursed under his breath, and Blaine could feel the blush intensifying. Mrs Daniels had an incredibly stern look on her face, and her nostrils flared in a manner that suggested that it was taking a lot of self control for her not to start shouting at them. Instead she beckoned Blaine towards her imperiously, and, with one final look at Sebastian who was suppressing a smirk, Blaine followed her out of the wings and to the edge of the hall. With a pointed look, Mrs Daniels indicated that he should go sit with his family, and, face still burning, Blaine hurried over to them, the eyes of quite a lot of people following him.

Blaine flopped down into a seat next to Cooper, who raised his eyebrows as Blaine just hid his head in his hands. He knew that his dad was giving him a disapproving look, and Emily was confused, but Blaine was _so humiliated_. He couldn't believe he'd let _Mrs Daniels_ catch them, well, snogging. He couldn't believe that they hadn't _heard_ her, the woman wore ridiculous heels that made an even more ridiculous amount of noise.

Worse, she was probably going to put him and Sebastian in a load of detentions for breaking her sacred rules, which just _sucked_ because Blaine was already under house arrest. Blaine just hoped that he got a chance to introduce Sebastian to his dad _before_ Mrs Daniels decided to come over and tell his father all about his "_unacceptable_" and "_unbecoming_" behaviour. He just hoped that she didn't mention the house arrest to him. God, if his dad found out he was under house arrest… Blaine might as well just go and jump off a bridge because his dad would be _furious_.

The worry that began to fill Blaine as he sat and watch Pedro dance around as he played the marimba - a sight that might have normally caused him to laugh - and Francis drop his bassoon onto Luc's foot as Luc brought on a stand for him, and apologised and apologised until Luc stuffed the reed into Francis' mouth, was terrifying. He was beginning to get worried, not just about Sebastian's performance, but about what would happen after. About telling his father about Sebastian, about what Mrs Daniels might say, what _Cooper_ might say to him…

As always with Blaine, the thoughts and feelings took over at an alarming pace. It was beginning to clog up his chest, that tight feeling of terror that made it difficult to breathe, and he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to not have a panic attack. On instinct he looked around for his closest friend, and spotted Nick and Thad slumped at a table nearby, both looking annoyed with their respective parents. This reassured Blaine a little bit because the two of them were always good when he had a panic attack. Nick was good at calming him down, and Thad was a good listener. He took several deep breaths, and closed his eyes, missing Sebastian walking on stage.

The familiar introduction caused his eyes to fly open. He stared at Sebastian who was sat on stage with an electric guitar, staring out at the audience. Blaine felt his chest tighten. _Please don't sing to me_, he thought, _**please**__ don't_!

_Beauty queen of only eighteen_

_She had some trouble with herself_

_He was always there to help her_

_She always belonged to someone else_

Blaine felt his mouth drop open when he saw that Sebastian was looking directly at someone else in the audience, and twisted around to see that he held the gaze of a startled looking Keats. Blaine blinked, was Sebastian _apologising_? Was he _listening_ to _Blaine_?

_I drove for miles and miles_

_And wound up at your door_

He'd turned away from Keats, and met Blaine's eyes. Blaine gulped, slightly, trying hard not to colour up as most people looked at him as Sebastian sang directly at him.

_I've had you so many times_

_But somehow I want more_

He noted the slightly humours glint in Sebastian's eyes, probably thinking back to all the times when people told them they were an item when they weren't, and Blaine tried to ignore his brother's amused look, Emily's smile and his father's clenching and unclenching fists.

_I don't mind spending every day_

_Out on your corner in the pouring rain_

Blaine let out an incredulous sigh, a small smile at the ridiculousness of the situation creeping onto his features. He rolled his eyes, shaking his head. Sebastian, who hated romance and told Blaine that big gestures made him want to puke, was sitting on stage and telling Blaine, in front of the whole school and their assembled others, that he would always be there for him.

_Look for the girl with the broken smile_

_Ask her if she wants to stay awhile_

_And she will be loved_

_And she will be loved…_

Emily put a hand over Blaine's as Sebastian met her gaze. She blinked, looking incredibly impressed, as he sat there _promising_ to love Blaine. It was an assurance that he would look after Blaine, and take care of him, and that she didn't have to worry about the boy that was her son in all ways but one. Blaine curled his fingers around hers, giving her a small, embarrassed smile. She shook her head, clearly surprised and amused by the action.

Anna got out of her chair and hopped onto her half-brothers lap. Meg followed suit and Blaine let out "oofs" as they crushed him. He released Emily's hand and secured the two girls in place by wrapping his arms around their middles. He saw Sebastian smirk in amusement as he winced as their swinging legs collided with his shins, and Blaine just grinned back.

_It's not always rainbows and butterflies_

Blaine had to snort, loudly, at that because when would anything with Sebastian be "_rainbows_" and "_butterflies_" and saw Wes spit out some of his drink at the idea. Sebastian half rolled his eyes at the reactions.

_It's compromise that moves us along, yeah_

Blaine smiled as he thought of all the little things that Sebastian now did for him, namely him making Blaine breakfast everyday, when he'd agreed to take Blaine's "lessons in romance" and that, whilst he always grumbled, he'd go through with it for Blaine.

_My heart is full and my door's always open_

_You come anytime you want_

Blaine was beginning to feel increasingly touched by the sentiment that was being expressed through the song. It was the kind of thing that Sebastian could never say to somebody out loud, but he seemed completely at ease in the song, and Blaine couldn't help, but feel a few tears build up in his eyes at the gesture, which was undoubtedly fine.

_I don't mind spending every day_

_Out on your corner in the pouring rainL_

_ook for the girl with the broken smile_

_Ask her if she wants to stay awhile_

And it brought Blaine back to the nightmares and fear when he'd just moved schools, and he'd frequently be shaken awake with Thad and Sebastian bending over him. He remembered always forcing them a smile to try and convince them that he was okay. He remembered the nights when Thad would emigrate to the sofa, despite his protests, and Sebastian would stay with him, and talk to him until he fell asleep against his warm shoulder.

_And she will be loved…_

He noticed that Sebastian and Cooper were now engaged in a fierce staring battle, Sebastian's eyes honest and Cooper's defensive. Blaine had to smile at that, because he wasn't sure how his brother would take him having a boyfriend, but Cooper seemed to finally be growing up.

"Blaine." said Meg, tugging on his lapel.

"Yes?"

"Why does he think you're a girl?" she lisped and Blaine shared a look with Anna as she rolled her eyes in a very withering manner for an eight year old. He opened his mouth to reply, before he was overcome with giggles. Anna began to giggle too, putting her fingers in her mouth, and Blaine knew that Meg was still confused, but he was just so amused.

_I know where you hide alone in your car_

_Know all of the things that make you who you are…_

Kurt was experiencing several things through the course of the song. The most prominent one was a feeling of utter despair as he watched the looks that they exchanged through out the song. It was _horrible_ to watch, and he vaguely wondered whether Sebastian was doing it on purpose, though Blaine would be ignorant, but the more he watched the more he thought that Sebastian was really just trying to be _honest_ with Blaine, and all about how he felt.

_Tap on my window knock on my door_

_I want to make you feel beautiful_

The other thing that he felt was completely at awe by how Sebastian sung. There was something in his voice that hadn't been there the other times Kurt had heard him sing, and Kurt had a very strong suspicion that that was because in the play he'd been acting, and he hadn't _felt_ _Disturbia_…It wasn't an emotional song, and it wasn't one he'd picked, but this…He was singing from the heart, and Kurt had to give him credit, he sounded _incredible_.

_I don't mind spending every day_

_Out on your corner in the pouring rain_

_Look for the girl with the broken smile_

_Ask her if she wants to stay awhile_

The last thing that had captured Kurt's attention had been at the very beginning when Sebastian had looked at _Keats_. Keats now bore a rather tense look, and Kurt's mind had slowly cycled through the possibilities of what that could mean and had settled on the only thing that would make logical sense; Keats _liked_ Sebastian! Though, even then he wasn't sure because he'd been under the impression that Keats had liked _him_, and that his major quarrel had been with Blaine…either way, it had looked like an explanation that Sebastian had offered. Kurt just didn't understand…

_And she will be loved_

Blaine stopped laughing when he saw that Sebastian was meeting his father with a level gaze. It wasn't the same promise that he'd given Emily, but a sort of…Blaine didn't have the words…it was like "you-might-not-want-a-man-to-love-your-son-_I_-will"…

_And she will be loved_

Keats swallowed a little, trying to control the anger surging through him. The way that Sebastian was just rubbing it all in his face made him want to punch him, or Blaine. Stories of them kissing had already reached his ears, and he tried to banish the creeping memories of Freshman year, of _that_ night…

_And she will be loved_

Kurt realised that he just had to accept that - for now - Blaine and Sebastian were going strong. They were completely in love with each other, and nothing that Kurt felt or did was going to change that. He just had to move on, again. He just had accept that, despite being a bitch to everyone else, Sebastian _cared_ about Blaine…and Blaine _adored_ Sebastian.

_And she will be loved…_

Kurt also had to admit that it was a good final solo performance. It was uplifting the crowd, and quite a few people were clapping along, marvelling at the talent that was Sebastian's voice. Kurt swallowed and glanced at Blaine who was grinning, hugging his sisters, and leaning in to listen to something his step-mum was whispering to him.

Surprisingly, for Kurt, he suddenly found that he was exhausted when the orchestra finished with a final flourish, Luc sending the baton spinning into the air and catching it deftly, and caused the hall to rise to their feet as one. He could barely contain his yawns as Chris was announced as runner-up for the art exhibition - he hadn't even realised that it was a competition - and Trinity switched the prize money for paper which became super glued to his fingers. Everyone had had a good laugh, but Kurt's good mood was killed when Keats went storming past him - almost shoving him out of the way as he tried to speak to him - and his father went storming from the hall, followed by a rather timid looking woman with the same wavy hair as Keats.

The New Directions left rather abruptly after that when they saw that was Puck chatting up Thad's mum, who seemed to be more than enjoying his company. Thad had seemingly disappeared, along with Nick and Jeff - leaving Tristan bellowing at the air like a madman - and Mr Schue had steered Puck out of the hall - with the New Directions following closely behind - but not before Nick had seemingly _re_appeared from nowhere and swapped numbers with Santana with a wink and a "call-me-later" before disappearing again.

Burt seemed to have sensed how tired his son was, but also didn't seem to want to leave as he was eyeing Mr Anderson with a steely gaze. Kurt looked around and saw that David's famous family had a little knot of clamouring fans around them, but that they were watching the confrontation between the Andersons, and Sebastian. Kurt had smoothed down his uniform and moved towards the family, mildly cautious at Mr Andeson's raised voice;

"You are _what_?" Blaine shifted from foot to foot and glanced up at Sebastian. Sebastian had a very cool stance, arms folded across his chest and a disdainful look on his face.

"We're _dating_." he said in a bored voice. "Would you like that in French or Spanish or Troll?"

"_Bastian_!" said Blaine, tugging on his sleeve in a pleading manner. "Don't make this _worse_!" Sebastian gave him a brief look, rolling his eyes, and turned back to Mr Anderson, face still scornful.

"Sebastian, maybe you should leave." Emily had a hand on Anna's shoulder, and looked very cautious. Sebastian shook his head, stubbornly.

"I said I'd be here." he said, bluntly. Cooper snorted, looking him up and down with a nasty expression on his face, trying not to jostle the sleeping Meg in his arms.

"Yeah, right…"

"_Coop_! I thought you were cool with this!" Blaine sounded whiny, to Kurt, but he guessed that he had a right to be in the situation. Cooper rolled his eyes.

"'Course I am, do I _look_ like dad?"

"_Yes_."

"_Completely_."

"_Absolutely_."

"_**Trinity**_!" The three boys were gone in the half a second it took them to arrive. Blaine ran a hand over his face. "Dad, look, it's not a big deal, right? I mean…you saw what he was singing to me." Sebastian snorted, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

"He doesn't care about _that_, Blaine." Blaine put his head in his hands, not being able to acknowledge his father's disapproving, disappointed gaze.

"Dad, didn't you like my singing…you heard how good everyone was…" he shrugged. "I was- wasn't it _good_?" Mr Anderson shook his head.

"If you want me to come, invite me to a Football game, Blaine. _Don't_ humiliate me like this. We're leaving. You come home for Christmas, you _stay_ home."

"Dad-"

"_Quiet_!" Mr Anderson swallowed, looking angry before continuing. "I _will not_ be treated in such a manner, Blaine, I _will not_!"

"What manner?" asked Victor Stark, coming up to Blaine's shoulder with a frown on his face.

"I don't think it's _any_ of your business." he said, looking furious. "Just because you have your name plastered over the front pages of _trashy_ magazines doesn't mean I have to listen to what you have to say. It's people like you, you and your _programmes_ and your_ meddling_ that did this! _All_ of you! You corrupted my sons!" Blaine bit down on his bottom lip, tears filling his eyes.

"You don't even care, do you?" he yelled, suddenly. "It's just about _Cooper_! You don't even care about me! You just care that Cooper became an _actor_, like _Adrian_!"

"I _will not_-"

"You _never_ cared about me! You're just still angry about what Cooper did, but you can't do anything because he's an adult so you take it out on _me_!" He turned on his heel, storming out of the hall abruptly and Kurt watched him go with an open mouth. Cooper scratched the back of his neck as the other boys all engaged in a fierce, silent, argument about who should follow Blaine. Eventually, Wes pushed Sebastian in the back, who grabbed a hold of the scruff of Thad's blazer - he'd reappeared when his mum had vanished - and dragged him after Blaine.

The Anderson family filed out; Emily ushering them out red in the face, and David's step-parents went out talking to Cooper. Kurt swallowed, watching as families dispersed, and suddenly felt a rush of affection towards his father. He looked up at him, seeing his face that was still etched with concern and a little bit of anger, and wrapped his arm around his father, feeling just a little bit tearful.

_I'm completely exhausted. There's a tiredness in __**every**__ bone of my body and all my muscles. My mind is in a state of numbness. I've kind of learnt __**a lot**__ this evening; everyone at Dalton is __**amazing**__, Keats likes Sebastian - or something - and most of the other gay guys have __**bad**__ relationships with their dads. I got lucky, really lucky…Blaine doesn't seem to have any friends from his old school whilst I have the whole glee club, and Mr Schue, and I- I have, like, __**three**__ families! I've got the boys at Dalton, the New Directions, and my dad…I'm never going to be alone, even if I seem to constantly be suffering from unrequited love…_

* * *

**Next Time- Pulled Taut: Things ought to be winding down at Dalton Academy as the end of term approaches, but an incident with Luc reminds them that nothing can ever go smoothly, and, for Kurt, there's another set of hurdles to jump; end of terms exams, and an encounter with Keats changes Kurt's Dalton for good…**


	13. Pulled Taut

**_Dear Readers,_**

**_First of all, just another thank you for all the support you've given this story! It really keeps me motivated, especially if I hit a little block in the writing. _**

**_Secondly, in answer to a guest review by ANITAA who asked me what Keats looked like. He's about the same height as Kurt, and he's got a sort average build - not really fat or thin, slender or thick-set. He has grey eyes, and wavy brown hair that just about reaches his collar. He's got quite a long, sharp, nose, but other than that he's not really meant to be physically dominant, or really present...he's kind of, just, ordinary looking. I hope that helped, anyway._**

**_Lastly, I don't speak Spanish, and I really don't know any - except hello which I think, correct me if I'm wrong, is "hola" - so I apologise for any mistakes that may have been made; I used Google translate so I have no idea how accurate that will be. _**

**_Enjoy, and feel free to leave your thoughts!_**

* * *

**The Scholarship**

**Episode 13: Pulled Taut**

_I am utterly __**exhausted**__! I thought that, kind of like at McKinley, things would wind down just a bit after something like the concert, given that that seems to have been the big event of the term, but no…I have just been piled with a ton more work. No one else is complaining, though, so I guess this is normal. The only bad thing is that they've begun talking about exams, actual __**proper**__ exams. Professor Lloyd held me back after class and told me that it was __**far**__ more important that __**I**__ passed it than the rest of my year put together because I didn't take entrance exams…__**great**__…_

Kurt rubbed a hand over his eyes, and closed his History textbook, hand aching. He had been writing an essay that the rest of the class had done at the beginning of the term, and he was completely shattered. It was due in tomorrow - meaning he'd had only _one day_ to do it because Mrs Daniels was mean enough to ask for homework to be handed in on a Sunday. He'd also been threatened with severe punishment "_beyond __**anything**__ he could possibly imagine_" if he considered copying anyone's work because she would _know_.

He blinked, heavily, and yawned. He'd stayed up until one in the morning last night trying to get all the research done, and, eventually, Juri had been awoken by the light, thrown his planning notes - such was the disarray of Juri's half of the room that they were right by his bed - and told Kurt to turn the light off, before promptly dropping back off to sleep, snoring loudly. Kurt had rolled his eyes, acknowledged that he was too tired to keep working effectively, and climbed into bed fully clothed, dropping off to sleep instantly.

Now, it was the middle of the afternoon, and Juri had wondered off to some music group. The house was distinctly quiet, and Kurt sighed, deciding that he wanted to go and find the company of some people that were still alive, and got to his feet. He stretched, rolled his neck and picked up Blaine's scarf, it was now a permanent fixture around his neck when he went out and about at Dalton. He looped it round his neck, securing the knot loosely, and strode out of his room.

After questioning six people in the common room he discovered that Keats was off campus with his friends, Chris was comforting Drew and Fred - they were both in the medical wing again - and Blaine and the others were in the hall doing something to do with Flint's dad. Deciding that, because he was a nosy person, and because going to the clinic wing was not that appealing, he was going to go to the hall to see what Flint and the others were doing, and so he set off across the grounds of Dalton.

The grass was crisp, and the air was sharp against his cheeks, and Kurt tightened the scarf around his neck before stuffing his hands into his pockets as the cold began to turn them a raw pink. He picked up the pace, taking longer strides on legs that had slowly and slowly become more muscular under Coach Met's extensive training, and he nodded, briefly, to the other boys that were dashing around outside.

He slipped in through one of the back doors - not the one he normally used - and ended up at the back of the hall. He looked down onto the stage and saw that Thad sat, legs dangling over the edge, with a guitar on his lap and Flint stood on stage, singing his heart out.

_Maybe I know, somewhere deep in my soul_

_That love never lasts_

_And we've got to find other ways to make it alone_

_Or keep a straight face_

Kurt felt his mouth drop open just a tad at the _weight_ that was in Flint's voice. Kurt could hear a mournfulness in his voice. He could just feel how sad this was making him. There was also a tiredness, like it all cost him a great effort, like he was trying so hard to be brave, be strong.

_But darling, you are the only exception_

_You are the only exception_

And it was so much better than when Rachel had delivered it to the New Directions. She'd belted it out, like she would any other show tune, and missed all the subtle sadness, that resignation - that, though this wasn't what they really wanted it's what he felt - and Kurt could almost not believe how talented Flint was. Luc must be ma- oh, he _was_, but still! It was _insane_ to not give him a solo.

_I've got a tight grip on reality_-

"No, no, can't sing this." Flint stopped singing abruptly, and Thad played a couple more chords before breaking off with a frown on his face.

"Why not?" asked Blaine, and Kurt noticed him sitting with the others somewhere near the front. Flint gave him a glare, and then shook his head.

"I just- I can't sing _that_ to my _dad_! Do you _want_ to come to my funeral?"

"Well…" said Nick, a note of consideration in his voice, and Flint almost threw him a glare but seemed to stop himself.

"I just- he'll know I'm singing about a guy, and stop-" Kurt stumbled over his own feet in shock. Flint was _gay_? Since _when_? All the heads turned to look at him as his mind reeled - why hadn't anyone told him that _Flint_ was _gay?_ Was Flint- well, it sounded like Flint was out so what was the problem?

"Oh, hey Kurt." said David, waving at him.

"Wanna come and join us?" suggested Jeff, and Kurt, looking still a little shocked, nodded and came to sit on Blaine's other side.

"You alright, Kurt? You look shell shocked." Kurt gave Blaine a small smile, and glanced at Flint. Flint looked at him, and then his mouth fell open in shock and understanding.

"You didn't know I was gay, did you?" Kurt nodded, dumbly, and Flint gave him a small, apologetic, smile. "Yeah, I never mentioned it, not that it's too relevant. I'm not- I'm not quite as confident with my sexuality as others." He shrugged. "Ah well, anyway, I could use your expertises." Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"_Expertise_?" Flint sighed, running a hand over his forehead.

"My dad wants to hear me sing…the song has to be carefully chosen, and _perfect_." Kurt nodded, having already sort of guessed this.

"What are your song choices?" The other boys sniggered, and Kurt looked around in confusion. "What?" Blaine rolled his eyes, clearly taking pity on Kurt's confused state of mind.

"Flint doesn't really make "_song choices_"…he just sings every song he can think of until he finds one that he thinks will go down well."

"It's a long process." said David, leaning back against the back of his chair. "We've been here since breakfast." Kurt nodded, and turned back to the stage where Thad seemed to be strumming the intro to various songs, and Flint was shaking his head at everything.

"_No_, Thad, I _will not_ sing the Beatles, you know that my dad won't listen to anything from a non-American artist unless it was produced _after_ the turn of the century." Thad rolled his eyes, and began to strum the intro to _Million Dollar Bill_.

"No." said Jeff, shaking his head. "He doesn't have the voice for Whitney." The other boys nodded as one, and Thad sighed, looking up at Flint in confusion. Flint just shrugged.

"I need something different, _new_." He glared down at Thad, demanding him to come up with something that he could use. Thad began to play something by Elvis, and Kurt narrowed his eyes after Flint had shaken his head, and Thad had moved onto Metallica.

"Does Thad know _every_ song?" he demanded as the opening of _Hungry Heart_ was shot down with a glare. Blaine nodded.

"Yeah, we think so…If you ever need someone to accompany you at short notice than Thad is your man; we're pretty sure he knows every popular song written since 1930, and that _includes _musicals."

"No Thad, we need something more modern, something he doesn't know as well." Thad seemed to pause before tentatively playing the opening to _Grace Kelly_. Flint, who was striding around the stage in an agitated manner, froze, his body swivelling to Thad.

"_Mika_! That's _good_, but not _that_ song." Thad screwed his face up in thought before beginning to play. He was hesitant with the first couple of chords, but Flint's nodding was enough to encourage him.

_You talk about life, you talk about death,_

_And everything in between,_

_Like it's nothing, and the words are easy._

Flint began with a quiet tone of his voice, hunching his shoulders slightly, and sticking his neck forward.

_You talk about me, and you talk about you,_

_And everything I do,_

_Like it's something, that needs repeating._

He sang in an honest manner. His facial expressions, hand gesticulations and head movements were like he was speaking to them, like he was just adding pitch to the words that he was saying.

_I don't need an alibi or for you to realize,_

_The things we left unsaid,_

_Are only taking space up in our head._

_Make it my fault, win the game_

_Point the finger, place the blame_

_And toss me up and down,_

_It doesn't matter now_

He grew slowly more intense in the lead up into the chorus. His features became more stuck into a frown, and Kurt found himself leaning forward, being drawn into what Flint was singing, trying to discern what Flint was attempting to communicate to him.

_'Cause I don't care if I ever talk to you again._

He lost all pretence when he reached the chorus. He went from standing still in an almost stationary manner, to leaping into the air. He seemed to loosen up, the tension from his hunched posture flying away as he leapt into the air.

_This is not about emotion,_

_I don't need a reason not to care what you say__,_

_Or what happened in the end._

_This is my interpretation,_

_And it don't, don't make sense…_

Kurt had never really seen this side of Flint before; he was generally uptight and got stressed over school work and Warblers easily, but now he was completely free. He punched his fists into the air, his face relaxed with a sort of "_ha_, see if I care what you think" look on his features.

"Hey, Flint." said Nick, raising his head from where the chin had been resting in his hand as the friends watched him with a great deal of intensity. "There's a high note coming up soon." Flint, still moving to the music, nodded, grinning back at him.

_It's really not such a sacrifice_

Kurt had to admit that Flint was definitely pulled out of his vocal range right at the end, but he seemed to cope well enough to make it convincing - though Kurt wouldn't classify it as "_perfect_" in anyway.

_If I never talk to you again._

_This is not about emotion,_

_I don't need a reason not to care what you say,_

_Or what happened in the end. _

_This is my interpretation,_

_And it don't, don't make sense._

_And it don't have to make no sense to you at all,_

_'Cause this is my interpretation, yeah, yeah, yeah._

Kurt noticed that, as Flint ran his way through the last chorus, the face's of his friends became more and more serious and concerned. Kurt, personally, was of the opinion that it was really good. He sounded the part, he had enough emotion to make it his own without loosing the energy of the music. The only thing that he could think of was that wasn't good was that it became less of a performance and more Flint almost _ranting_ at them.

"Well?" he asked, breathlessly as Thad leaned against the guitar on his lap. The boys looked between each other. Nick sighed as most of the eyes seemed to be directed on him. Flint's face fell. "It wasn't good, was it?"

"No, no." said Nick, hastily, looking a little put upon. "It's not _that_, it's just…do you really want to, sort of, _rant_ at your dad? It just- it sounds a bit like you're saying "_screw you_" to him, and if you _really_ want to put your middle finger up to him than I think you'd be better doing _The Only Exception_ because you just sound better." he shrugged, looking apologetic, and Flint bit down on the inside of his lip.

"I- is that what you all think?" There was a pause before the others nodded. Kurt joined in because, honestly, he'd preferred _The Only Exception_ as a performance. He sighed, ruffling up his light brown hair in a stressed manner. "Okay, okay, let me think about this." He regained his serious expression as he put a hand over his mouth, and Kurt turned to Blaine who was smiling lightly.

"How come you're out of Franklin?" he asked. "And David, too?" Blaine turned his face to Kurt, grinning.

"Oh, 'cause of the run up to the Carol Concert and exams, and crap - and because of me talking to him about Keats and being "_mature_" - he's suspended our house arrest." Kurt nodded, deciding to just ignore the part about Keats because he wasn't getting anything from there.

"Do we have rehearsals with Crawford then?" he asked, and Blaine nodded in an annoyed manner.

"Oh yes, what fun." he said, dryly, and Kurt chuckled. "Just you _wait_," he warned. "it's only a matter of time before someone develops a crush on you." Kurt was about to keep laughing when he remembered the end of the last cheerleading practise when one of the girls - a tall, thin, Sophomore called Abby - had come up to him and tentatively complimented him on his singing, asking how she could be so good. He'd been flattered, but in a hurry and so had rushed past, but now it occurred to him that _that_ was the route that Charles had taken when he'd tried to ask him to marry him.

_Oh crap, __**not**__ what I need. _

"Um, is there a War- sorry, I mean _Lark_ called Abby?" Blaine rolled his eyes whilst David snorted, loudly.

"Oh yes," he said, breaking into the conversation. "Abby is one of the marginally _less_ obsessive ones." Kurt rolled his eyes whilst David just laughed at his expense, having guessed what was going on.

"What?" asked Blaine looking confused, and David just patted his arm in a sympathetic manner.

"Don't worry your pretty little mind about it, Blaine, it's nothing of great importance." Blaine continued to look confused and just a little bit baffled, but Flint interrupted looking a little unsure.

"Okay, so, I've given it a lot of thought, and I'm doing _My Interpretation_." There were raised eyebrows, and Flint sighed. "I know, I know, but I reckon if I tone it down a bit, it'll be better because, well, the other's just…it's _too_ personal…me and my dad don't get one well enough for us to share _that_." There was a pause before the boys nodded, and Kurt guessed that if Flint actually felt that way about someone, and he didn't feel like sharing it with his dad, then it wasn't right for him to sing it.

"Wow…" said Jeff, checking his watch. "It's _before_ four, this has to be some sort of record!"

"Hey, it's Kurt!" said Nick brightly. "He's our good luck charm!" Kurt turned felt himself blushing, faintly, at Nick's words - for whatever strange reason - and shook his head, frowning a little.

"All hail the Kurtsie pie!" said Jeff and Nick as one, pretending to bow down and worship his feet. Flint rolled his eyes, smiling, Blaine just shook his head, David produced a deep bow of his own and Thad just stared blankly at them all, passively questioning their sanity.

"_Don't_-" began Kurt in a threatening tone, but the two best friends had already upped and dashed from the hall before he could draw breath for the next word. He exhaled, the loss of air deflating his chest, which he'd puffed up to make him look more menacing. There were chuckles from Flint, David and Blaine as Thad moved to put the guitar he'd been using somewhere safe.

"Sorry, Kurt," said Blaine, hands landing on his shoulders as he began to lead him to the exit, and Kurt felt his chest swell just a little at the contact. "but it's stuck, you're _doomed_."

"Now, _really_," said David, cheerful smile on his face as they walked along out of the hall, Flint and Thad trailing someway behind. "there's no need for such negative tidings." Kurt grinned at him, noticing Blaine's conspiratorial wink, and just shook his head.

"I think there is," said Flint. "remember when the _whole school_ called me Flintwood and Mac, for a _year_ - the only thing that stopped them from calling me that was Luc bursting into one of my classrooms and yelling that I was one person and that if they used the name again he'd behead them, or something like that." There were chuckles from Blaine and David in a reminiscent manner. Kurt wasn't even that shocked at the tale, and simply rolled his eyes.

"I'm not surprised." he said dryly. "I just hope the rest if the school doesn't pick up on it, then, because I get the feeling Luc won't have _too_ much against calling me "_Kurtsie_" at all, unless he gets annoyed because it's not in _The Sound of Music_." This got laughs from the other three boys, and Kurt looked around, suddenly noticing that Thad was missing. "Where's Thad?" he asked and the other boys shrugged.

"Probably gone out." said Flint, casually, not looking that bothered by the sudden disappearance of one of their friends. Kurt frowned, wondering where he'd gone all of a sudden, but decided not to chase it up.

"So, when's our first rehearsal with the Larks?" he asked, a touch nervous at the idea of meeting the crazy bunch of girls properly, most of the cheerleaders weren't _that_ crazy - and Kurt didn't really talk to anyone but Elise.

"Oh, not until the weekend." said Blaine with a relieved smile. "I think that's too soon, though." There were chuckles from the other boys, jabbing him in the ribs. Kurt gave him a smile that stopped a little short of being one that laughed at him.

"You know you love them, really." Blaine glared at David.

"I hate you." he muttered, under his breath, arms folded in a huff. "I _really_ hate you."

"No, you don't, Blainey, you _looooove_ me. Your sisters _looooove_ me, your family-"

"_Don't_ go there, David." he said, glaring at his friend, and David put his hands up, admitting that it wasn't a good place to go. Kurt glanced at him wondering whether he dared ask about what he'd heard between Blaine and his father.

"Why does your dad, you know…" he shrugged, glancing at David and then back to Blaine. Blaine sighed, rubbing the end of his nose with a tired look in his eyes.

"My mum ran away with an actor to LA. She fell in love with him, and he was all sort of open-minded and he cared about what she said and stuff…" he shrugged, biting the inside of his mouth, and Kurt nodded, understanding what Blaine had been saying.

"And, of course, your brother is an actor too." Blaine nodded sadly.

"My dad- my dad blames actors and singers and stuff for all of what went wrong, as opposed to the fact that he was just an _ass_, but Cooper was about fifteen when mum left so it was too late for him to really like Emily. He "_ran away_" when he was eighteen, got into an arts college over in LA." Blaine shook his head. "I don't know…" he frowned, just a little bit as if suddenly considering something he hadn't previously. Then he shook his head and smiled at Kurt. "Anyway, it just means he's not that partial to my talent of singing…he things music made me gay." he added, and Kurt almost snorted, but he knew this was serious for Blaine.

"God, guys!" exclaimed David into the oppressive silence that had descended over the four friends. "Lighten up; it's nearly _Christmas_! _Holidays_! At least you get to see Oscar and Caz." Blaine rolled his eyes, but nodded a bit. Kurt opened his mouth to ask who these people were, but Nick and Jeff had turned up at that exact moment, singing at the top of their voices about homework and angels and coffee.

_I don't even want to know what's going through their minds right now. They just seem to be randomly singing about whatever comes into their minds to the tune of 'Barbie Girl' by Aqua…I have no idea what that's about…I just learn more and more about these guys everyday that I'm here, and I like the new things, and quirks, that I learn about them all the time, even the crazy things…_

* * *

Kurt hurried towards Luc's office, arms overflowing with bits and pieces - and the streamers that Trinity had thrown on him - and absolutely _certain_ that the music director was the only person who could help him. He had no idea why, but Travis had thrust a sheet of music in his hands and Mac told him that he now had a solo in the carol concert. They'd offered him no explanation, simply dashing back away, and Kurt was feeling just a tad stressed.

The news of exams had been incredibly unwelcome, added to that they were doing their most intensive cheerleading practise _now_ because they had Regionals just after they got back, _and_, whilst he wanted a solo desperately, he didn't want it singing praises to a God that he didn't think existed.

This was why he either needed Luc to talk Travis and Mac out of their decision, or at least tell him how the song was meant to go because he'd never heard it before, which didn't really shock him. He knew that if he caught Luc at the wrong time he'd refuse to help him, but Kurt felt that he had to at least _try_ because if this _was_ his first solo in front of the school, it had to be better than perfect.

He knocked on Luc's door, and got no response. He bit down on his lip, wondering whether he was in or whether Kurt should check some of the other music rooms. He was missing his lunch, though, so he hoped that it wasn't a waste of time. He sighed, preparing to turn around, when he heard a crash inside. Ears perking up, he opened the door and saw Luc at his desk, red head in hands and emitting a low groan.

Kurt looked the around the room in worried shock. It was a _mess_. There was paper _everywhere_, pens littered over them with dirty cups and plates scattered, higgledy-piggledy, across the floor. There was a powerful smell of rotting food, coffee and body odour that made Kurt wrinkle his nose in disgust. The walls had pins stuck into it; some with full sheets of manuscript paper hanging from them and others just had little scraps from where sheets had been torn down.

Kurt stepped into the room carefully, trying not to stand on anything when he realised that the paper was music, _handwritten_, and that it must be Luc's own compositions - well, Thad _had_ said he was genius. Luc seemed unaware of his presence, though, as he picked his way across to his desk, hopping from empty space to empty space, and so Kurt cleared his throat.

Luc looked up, his green eyes flashed, and his hands seemed to ball into fists. Kurt knew something was wrong, immediately. There was something…_different_. Kurt couldn't say _what_, but it was just _different_, _wrong_. He felt uncomfortable, immediately, by this Luc. He didn't know what to do.

Something smashed, Luc had flung the cup on the desk at the wall. The last dredges of once hot coffee slid down the wall, dribbling onto the manuscript paper.

"_No_!" cried out Luc, his whole demeanour changing when he saw the coffee blotting the notes. "_Get out of my room_! _Get the __**fuck**__ out of my room_!" Kurt didn't argue. Heart in mouth he fled from Luc's room, not caring about stamping on his pieces of music, or that he dropped his things the moment he left the room. He didn't see anything, but what was directly in front of him.

_This must be what it's like to be Juri, normally_.

He shook the thought from his mind, quickly, because he needed to focus on one thing, and one thing alone;

_Find Sebastian_.

It wasn't something he'd ever thought would be going round and round his mind, but he remembered the morning of his first day at Dalton, when he'd first met Luc-

…"…_you boys keep an eye on him, though, we don't want him to fall off the wagon again."_

_"That's why I threatened him, I don't do it norm-"_

_"It's okay, Sebastian…"…_

-and Sebastian in the kitchen the one time he'd earned Kurt's respect.

…_."…and you can't do anything because they pull the "my-parents-can-ruin-your-life" card on teachers."_

_"People like you, then." _

_"Yes, like I do with __**Luc**__."…_

Sebastian _took care_ of Luc. He needed to find _Sebastian_. Luc was…well, he had _definitely_ fallen off the wagon. He needed _Sebastian_.

"_Sebastian_!" he yelled, almost falling over his own feet in his haste to reach the lead Warbler. Sebastian turned around, one eyebrow rising, delicately, in surprise.

"Kurt, do you know the rules about running and shouting and-"

"_Luc_!" he cried, coming to a halt, not that short of breath actually, but desperate to get moving. He hoped that Sebastian would understand that that this was _very _serious, and he seemingly did as his whole demeanour shifted. The other boys around him readily accepted his books, and he overtook Kurt in their sprint back to Luc's office.

Kurt could feel the blood pumping his ears. He didn't know what was wrong, but he'd known it was _bad_, and then he'd seen the change in Sebastian… Sebastian - for a half of a split second - had looked _scared_. He'd taken in Kurt, red-faced and in obvious distress, and - just for that moment - he had been _worried_. Kurt knew he had the power to care - he didn't hate him _that_ much - but Sebastian never looked _shocked_ let alone _scared_…That just made Kurt all the more worried because if Sebastian was afraid than the end of days might as well be occurring!

Kurt was surprised that, when they arrived back in Luc's office, Thad was already in there, and that Luc had collapsed onto the floor, sprawled over his music. Kurt stopped when Sebastian flew to his side - his heart was pounding too fast to be of use - and he'd just noticed the white coloured sick covering the floor.

"What _the fuck_ are you doing?" demanded Sebastian, shoving the younger boy off Luc where he'd clearly been attempting to give some form of CPR. "We have an _AED_ for a _fucking reason_!" Thad blinked at him, clearly trying to take in what Sebastian had said.

_AED? Doesn't that- that means…oh my god…he's having a __**heart attack**__! _

Luc certainly seemed to barely be breathing and Thad stumbled across the room, knocking books from shelves as he attempted to find the machine.

"_Hurry the fuck up you retard_!" Thad didn't have anything to say as Kurt slid down the wall wondering, horrified, whether this had been what had happened to his father. Lying on the floor in his own sick, barely able to breathe, choking.

Thad dropped down next to Sebastian, opening up the machine and Sebastian snatched out the pads and put them on Luc's already bare chest. The world was blurring around Kurt as he heard the machine working, and Sebastian yelling at Thad - ordering him around with a ruthless tongue - and rushing footsteps, people moving in and out of the room. He saw Luc being lifted onto a stretcher, he heard words like "_stomach pump_" "_overdose_" "_cardiac arrest_" and "_hospital_" and "_intensive care_".

"Kurt?" it was David, a hand on his shoulder. "Come with me." he lifted Kurt up, a hand going around his waist, helping him put his own arm over David's shoulders. "Are you okay?" Kurt's head was spinning. He never thought he'd have to _see _it. The _thought_ of his dad having to go through something like that. That Kurt had been the cause, partially, of something like that, and he hadn't given it _any thought_! He hadn't thought about his dad's health in _ages_! He was meant to not be getting under any stress!

Kurt swallowed. _What if his dad had another heart attack_? Kurt was stuck here in _Westerville_, a good _two hour_ drive from his dad! If anything happened… two hours was a _long time_. If Sebastian had come two _minutes_ later than Luc might not have made it, Thad seemed to not be able to think clearly or he would have used the _thing_ in the first place… His dad could _die_, and Kurt wouldn't _be_ _there_!

"What's wrong with him?" he heard the voices floating around at the edge of his consciousness that was clouded over with blinding, white, panic.

"I don't know…he saw Luc."

"_Luc_?"

"Heart attack…co-_fucking_-caine by the looks of it!"

"Not again…"

"What should we do?"

"You go to the clinic, we'll take him back to Franklin." He felt himself be passed over, and he flopped like a rag doll from person to person.

"It'll be okay, Kurt." came a soothing voice, and somewhere in his blind state of horror and shock and panic, he realised that it was _Nick_. He opened his mouth, wanting to say _something_, but he shut it because Nick wouldn't understand. Nick had a rich and famous dad who he obviously loved him to _pieces_, and obviously treated Nick right. Who, despite being nearly seventy, didn't seem to have _anything_ wrong with him because he was still writing, and publishing and making stupid _TV programmes_! Nick who didn't seem to have a damned worry in the world! Who ran around doing _whatever_ he wanted!

"Kurt, can you tell us what happened?" he'd felt the cold wind on his face, feeling cold shivers pass through his body, and then the still heat so he knew that he'd been carried to his house, probably his room. He bit down on the inside of his lip. Who understood?

"My dad." he said, in a quiet voice. There was a long pause before two pairs of feet padded across the room, opening and closing the door. He felt the bed sink next to him, and felt someone's arm around his shoulders.

"He have a heart attack?" guessed Jeff, and Kurt nodded, mutely. "Yeah…" said Jeff, sadly. "I think I understand." Kurt looked at him, his world coming into focus at the sound of his voice. Jeff sighed, and reached into his blazer pocket, pulling out his wallet. "Here." he handed Kurt a strip of pictures.

They all showed a blonde man with his arms around a lean, sharp eyed, seven year old. He noted that it was Jeff, instantly, seeing that he looked more lanky when he was a kid, being skinny and practically crushing his dad into the wall. They were pulling funny faces; the first one they had their tongues stuck out, then they were pinching at their skin around their mouth and eyes, and they were also giving they other bunny ears. The last one though, Jeff was just sprawled against his dad's chest, his father's arms around his waist, and they had happy smiles on their faces.

"Your dad, is he…?" he didn't finish forming the question, but Jeff nodded, eyes going sad for a moment.

"Yeah…we had those taken two weeks before…" Kurt bit the inside of his mouth, nodding.

"My mum…she, err, passed away when I was…eight." Jeff nodded.

"We'd kind of guessed." Kurt wrinkled his nose at him in confusion. Jeff shrugged. "You just- you _never_ mention her, but you talk about your family; your dad, Carole, Finn, quite a lot…" he shrugged again. Kurt nodded.

"Not that long ago, just a bit before the bullying got _really_ bad, my dad had a heart attack." Jeff nodded, sitting back a little, but keeping the arm around his shoulder. "It was, you know, mainly diet, but it was also…also _stress_, and just that day, me and him, we'd had this row…I didn't want to do Friday night dinner, I wanted to go to some _stupid_ _Sound of Music_ sing-a-long."

"Don't let Luc hear you saying _that_." Kurt chuckled, and then stopped because what if Luc _didn't_ because he didn't wake up. Jeff sighed, looking into his face. "Luc'll be fine…this isn't the first time he's collapsed…probably won't be the last." Kurt nodded.

"I just- I wasn't _there_ when it happened…I was there with him in hospital though, and I just- I just remembered…my dad was the only family I had left…" Jeff nodded and Kurt _knew_ he understood. "I never really, I never _allowed_ myself to think of what had happened…I never thought I'd _see_ it happening to someone…" Jeff nodded.

"Of course, yeah…"

"I don't know, it's kind of stupid, but…I just- I realised I hadn't given my dad's health any thought since I got here…I just- this must be _so stressful_ for him, and I just- what if he has another heart attack? And I'm not there because I'm _here_! I wasn't around when my mum died…my dad wouldn't let me go to the hospital…he kept telling me she would come back." his voice cracked at the memory. He had been _so sure_ that his dad was lying. _So sure_ that his mummy was coming back, right up until the funeral. He'd thought she was coming back.

"It's okay." said Jeff, softly, rubbing his arm. "I know how you feel…of course you were scared…I'm _terrified_ of fire now, and, well, the first time my mum went away after my dad died I tried to follow her…" he broke of snorting to himself. "I _finally_ learnt out what my mum did for a living." Kurt blinked up at him. "That did _not_ help me…" Kurt blinked at him.

"What - if you don't mind me asking?" Jeff shrugged.

"It's not really a secret…my mum works for the CIA." Kurt's mouth fell open.

"Your mum works for the _what_?" he demanded. Jeff chuckled.

"Yeah, the CIA…ironic much." Kurt frowned at him, not quite sure why it was ironic given that his dad had died in a _fire_. Jeff rolled his eyes, and took a deep breath. "My mum used to work in counter terrorism, wasn't so big back then…my dad…" he broke off, taking a huge breath. "my dad died in 9/11."

Kurt swallowed, feeling the wind leave him slightly. He didn't have anything to say. His mum, well, that had…not _natural_, but…it was _cancer_. The older he'd gotten the more he realised that her beating the cancer _twic_e, her having _him_, was nothing short of a miracle, but Jeff's dad…he'd been _murdered_ with no chance of justice because the people who hijacked the planes - they were dead too.

"I'm sorry…which…was he…?"

"He wasn't on any of the planes." said Jeff, sadly. "He was- it was the Twin Towers…" he explained slowly. "My dad was an artist, and he sort of…he hung around there a lot…I think he had friends in the building…I went there a few times - lots of ladies that loved pinching my cheeks and telling me just how much I've grown - and when…when the plane crashed he went inside…" Jeff broke off, shaking his blonde head. "Well, he never came back…He wasn't gone for a _week_ before my mum was back at work. I followed her and, well…" he shrugged. "That's basically how I ended up here…it's completely out of the way…" Kurt nodded, sadly.

"I'm sorry." Jeff shrugged.

"Well, what can you do? People always tell me my dad died a hero, but…I'd much rather just have my dad, you know." Kurt nodded, but he didn't really _know_. His mum hadn't had a choice, but Jeff's dad had to have known that there was a high chance of not coming back if he ran in.

"I'm so sorry…I mean, at least _I_ have my dad." Jeff nodded.

"That's kind of why I get angry with her. I mean, most people here _aren't_ all _Happy Families_…I think Liam has the most normal family 'cause Wes' is just incest galore." Kurt looked at him, mildly alarmed. Jeff shook his head. "You just, err, you just _don't_ want to know. You just _don't_." Kurt nodded.

"Okay, I'll take your word for it." Jeff chuckled.

"Yeah, like I said, most people aren't _Happy Families_, but…I-I feel like I don't have parents most of the time…my mum's _never_ around, and when she is it's because the school has problems with me." Kurt looked at him, seeing a sadness in his eyes.

"Is it- is that why you do the pranks?" he asked, tentatively, just a little cautious that he was overstepping the mark. Jeff shrugged.

"Yeah, a bit, I just- I mean they're _fun_, and they're good at taking my mind of things, and Nick's pretty _intense_…you don't really say _no_, but when I first got _suspended_ I realised that, actually, it got my mum's attention." he shrugged, and shook his head. Kurt swallowed.

"Thank you, Jeff, for talking to me." Jeff shrugged, giving him a tiny wry smile.

"We're friends, Kurt, and we look out for each other." Kurt nodded, feeling like he didn't really look out for them, but guessed that - because he was going through such a rough time in his life - he could be excused from that.

"Why-" he began, again feeling a touch nervous about asking. "Why does Luc take drugs?" Jeff sighed, exhaling heavily through his nose.

"I-I don't know if I should be the one to tell you that, Kurt." he said, eyes more serious than Kurt had ever seen. "It's Luc's story to tell…I'm not sure if that's up to me to talk about it, you know?" Kurt nodded in complete understanding.

"Yeah, 'course." Jeff nodded, getting to his feet.

"I'll leave you on your own, just for a bit - I know you probably want to be on your own-" Kurt nodded in gratitude. "-but are you sure you're okay?" Kurt nodded some more.

"Yeah, I just- it just overwhelmed me, I think. You know, some much time I've been focusing on myself, and my problems, and just not thinking about it, but now it's hit me - right in the face - just how serious this is." Jeff nodded, getting to his feet and moving to the door. He reached it, hand on the door handle, as he turned around.

"Kurt, if you ever need anyone to talk to…just someone who understands, I'm here." he gave Kurt a small smile from the corner of his mouth. "You know, just if you need _anything_…I sometimes get quite upset around Father's day." Kurt nodded, remembering Sunday's where he'd sat hunched next to his mother's dresser, refusing to talking to anyone.

"Thank you, Jeff, and if you need anything…" he returned the offer, not just out of politeness, but because Jeff really knew what he'd experienced - him and Finn had both lost parents, but Finn hadn't known his dad, Jeff had.

"Thanks," he said, wide smile appearing back on his face. "I'll see you around." Kurt flopped down onto his bed, exhaling heavily through his nose. Then, after lying there for a couple of moments. He bounded forward and snatched up his phone. He quickly dialled his home number.

"_Hello?"_ he gave a little huff of annoyance when he heard that it was Carole on the other end of the line.

"Hey, Carole, it's Kurt."

"_Oh,"_ she said in a tone of delight, and Kurt chastised himself for being annoyed. _"Kurt, sweetie, it's so good to hear from you. Is everything okay?"_ Kurt sighed, rubbing a hand over his suddenly tired eyes.

"No, not really, just- is my dad there?" He heard Carole sigh, and knew that she was shaking her head.

"_I'm sorry, Kurt, but I managed to talk him into going with Finn on his run. His doctor told him he needs regular exercise, I told Finn to take it easy though…just jogging round the park."_ Kurt felt his heart leap just a little bit. He ought to have remembered that Carole would be looking after his dad. He felt his throat stick a little a second later. It wasn't just him and his dad anymore, he had to remember that. _"Kurt, sweetheart, is something wrong?"_ Kurt cleared his throat noisily.

"No, not really, just…" he sighed, before deciding that he might as well tell her seeing as she was looking after his dad. "One of the teachers at school had a heart attack, and I kind of saw, and I just…I realised that I haven't been thinking about dad's health and that I'm not around to check what he eats and that this whole thing must be really stressful for him, and I kind of forgot that you were looking out for him - of course - but I just- I got worried, and-"

"_Oh, Kurt, darling, of course you did!"_ Carole interrupted his ramblings at just the right moment - right before Kurt got lost in panic - and Kurt swallowed heavily. _"But you need to calm down, alright? Your dad wouldn't want you to worry about him."_ Kurt nodded, a small smile on his face.

"Yeah, he wouldn't."

"_Look, Kurt, I know you've looked after your dad - and you've done a __**good**__ job - but you need to get back to being a kid. You've been through so much, and you're so grown up, and mature, but you need a chance to be a kid, right?"_ Kurt smiled. He could completely understand why his dad had fallen in love with - and married - Carole. She was just a lovely person through and through. She treated Kurt the same as Finn, and just wanted to make them a family.

"Okay."

"_If it's any consolation I'm making him eat right…I can't do much about his stress levels, but I think they're really coming down since the concert…since he's seen how much those boys care about you, and that the school takes things seriously."_ Kurt nodded in understanding.

"Okay, yeah, that's good."

"_If you want I could get him to call you back when him and Finn come back."_ Kurt shook his head. He didn't want his dad to worry about Kurt worrying about him. It was probably better that his dad didn't know what had happened to Luc.

"No, no, it's okay. I think it's better that he doesn't…you know…" he could hear Carole's noise of ascent through the phone.

"_Okay, Kurt, try not worry."_ Kurt smiled a little.

"I'll _try_." He heard give a little laugh.

"_Do call me, though, if you need anything. I am here for you, Kurt."_ Kurt blinked very quickly at that, biting down on his bottom lip.

"Thank you." he said, quietly. "I will."

"_Good."_ There was a short pause before Kurt exhaled, heavily, through his nose.

"I guess, goodbye."

"_Goodbye, sweetie."_ Kurt hung up, letting himself flopping back onto the bed. His dad was going to be fine. He was being looked after.

_I feel kind of light, now. Before it was all crashing down on me, how crap I'd been towards my dad - how selfish - but now that I've spoken to Jeff and Carole I feel better. Both of them understand, and it was nice to see a different side to Jeff…he's normally just so upbeat and jokey, and that's brilliant, but it's nice to see that he can be serious. I'm really feeling like I belong in Dalton which is kind of new, last time I felt like that it turned out crap…_

* * *

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" A motley collection of boys had gathered in Luc's office to tidy it up, and it was Tyler that had broken the silence as they attempted to sort the papers, and find the hidden stash of cocaine that had to be _somewhere_. Sebastian pulled a frustrated expression, eyes flickering closed in annoyance, and David threw a rubber at Tyler's head.

"Don't be mean," said Blaine, prodding Sebastian, lightly. "this is his first time." Tyler looked even more alarmed, and Braden slipped over in shock.

"This happen lots?" asked Pedro in a tight voice. "Mis dioses!" _"My gods!"_ he muttered in a quiet voice. Sebastian glared at him, too.

"Don't speak in Spanish; I hate that language." Pedro slammed the mug down on the table, a glint coming into his eyes.

"No insultes mi idioma! No hablaba ni una palabra en contra de mi herencia!" _"Don't insult my language! Don't speak a word against my heritage!"_ Everyone rolled their eyes, beginning to move back to their jobs as Pedro continued to rant in Spanish. "Yo vengo de un lugar tan hermoso! El lenguaje es hermoso! Es Inglés que es crudo y antipoético!" _"I come from a beautiful place! The language is beautiful! It's English that is crude and unpoetic!"_ Sebastian turned to Pedro, eyebrow raised and a disparaging look on his face.

"Su argumento es erróneo en muchos aspectos que es ridículo. Usted no citar más que su propia opinión, y es poco convincente para decir lo menos. Además, ¿cómo se puede decir que el Inglés es "antipoético"? Usted está hablando de la lengua que escritores como Shakespeare, TS Eliot y Louisa May Alcott, por nombrar unos pocos, que se utiliza. También es utilizado por gente tan buena como Martin Luther King, Roosevelt y Franklin Benjamin, por mencionar sólo un par de personas."

"_Your argument is flawed in so many ways that it is ridiculous. You cite only your own opinion, and it is unconvincing to say the least. Also, how can you say that English is "unpoetic"? You are talking about the language that writers such as Shakespeare, T. S. Eliot and Louisa May Alcott, to name a few, used. It is also used by such great people as Martin Luther King, Roosevelt and Benjamin Franklin, again to only mention a couple of people."_

Sebastian delivered his whole speech calmly, his voice completely even, apart from a slight hint of arrogance and the patronising tone. Pedro looked completely stunned, his mouth falling further open, and the others turned away, beginning to laugh, as Pedro was made to look more and more foolish. When Sebastian finished, with a supercilious nod, Pedro looked flabbergasted. He seemed to not be able to do anything before he bowed, hands pressed together.

"Me inclino ante ti, oh sabio de la lengua sable!" _"I bow to you O wise one of the sabre tongue!"_ Sebastian snorted, turning away with a slightly victorious look on his face. Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Por favor, no inflar su cabeza más lejos!" _"Please don't inflate his head any further!"_ Pedro laughed at Blaine, and opened his mouth to reply when David emitted a loud groan.

"No, _don't_ respond in Spanish!" he begged. "I can't understand a word that's going on! It's going to do my head in! I can't cope with _French_, please don't mix things up!" There was a moment in which everyone looked at David before turning away.

"Lo intentaré, pero es difícil no hacerlo! Quiero decir, eso era lo único que podía decir que no me maten!" _"I'll try, but it's just hard not to do it! I mean, that was the only thing that I could say that wouldn't get me killed!"_ Most of the boys chuckled, amused looks on their faces as David and Juri both exchanged frustrated looks - Juri having never learnt Spanish before.

"Cierto, cierto." _"True, true."_

"He'll be okay." Before David could murder someone because they were speaking in a language that wasn't English, Wes dashed into the room blazer hanging open with a relieved look on his face. "The ambulance guys were pretty cool…reckoned that whoever found him saved his life; guess he owes it to you again Sebastian." Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"I think it would be easier, though, if we could just find the drugs and stop him from going mad again." Wes tilted his head in acknowledgement, pushing up his sleeves and stepping into the room.

"Where's Jeff, and Kurt? He looked pretty bad earlier."

"Jeff took him to Franklin," said Nick, picking up a rotten apple core with a disgusted look on his face. "We think that his dad had a heart attack." Wes blinked, eyes going to the ceiling in confusion.

"I thought his dad was alive…?" Everyone looked at him before bursting out in laughter.

"Wes, you've _met him_!" exclaimed David, doubled over in hysterics. "_Twice_!" Wes threw him a bitchy look and examined some of the manuscript paper he'd picked up from the floor.

"Whatever, you left him with Jeff?" Nick and Flint nodded as one.

"Yeah," said Flint, ruffling up his light brown hair. "seemed like a good thing to do." Wes nodded, again.

"How did the threesome take it?" asked Aaron, brow pinched in confusion.

"Can we _please_ stop calling them that?" demanded Warren, to deaf ears, as Wes just shrugged and examined the diary that was lying open on the desk.

"Well, Hammonds was pissed, Sutherland was spouting some psycho-shit, but you could tell he just wanted to cry, and Hartfield was behaving like some sort of rabbit."

"_Rabbit_?" inquired Francis.

"He was trying to bite his lip open-" said David, examining a tissue that had a very odd orange stain on it. "-when I was there, so I imagine that when the ambulance turned up it was pretty bad." The twins - Edward and Marcus - exchanged bemused looks at the idea of the Maths teacher biting his lip when he scolded them for the same habit.

"Yeah, he'd moved onto tearing the skin from his fingers, figured that he might faint when the ambulance guys said that he thought he was going be okay so I grabbed him."

"Did he accuse you of sexual assault again?" asked Liam, and Wes threw the stapler at his head. "_Ow_! _Fuck_, man, that _hurt_!"

"Stop whining." said Sebastian, scowling, and Liam rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

"Guys," said David, suddenly, examining the room with a tense frown. "where the _hell_ is Pavarotti?" There was a long pause as the boys examined the room, unable to see the bright yellow bird.

"Oh _fuck_." exclaimed Wes, slamming his hands onto Luc's desk. "What's he done with him _now_?" Sebastian let out a heavy sigh, brow furrowing in annoyance and thought.

"I'll go ask Sutherland." said David, getting to his feet, and stretching. "He might know."

"Yeah, _might_." David just glared at Sebastian as he picked his way out the classroom.

"Are you alright, mate?" asked Wes, suddenly putting down the diary which he'd been trying to decipher - Luc seemed to have created some sort of code since last time - to examine the state of his best friend. Blaine looked up at Sebastian's face, finally looking at him properly since they'd found Luc.

Sebastian looked rather pasty, dark shadows beneath his eyes and a rather hollowed look in his eyes. His hair, whilst being as high as it normally was, didn't seem to be quite as put together as it normally was, if the drooping hairs and sudden appearance of a miniature fringe before it curved upwards were anything to go by. He'd definitely not spent as much time on it as he normally did, and there was something wrong with his eyes, that Blaine was sure that only he or Wes would pick up on, that caused his heart to leap into his mouth.

Sebastian gave a nod that wasn't quite as sharp as it was meant to be, and Wes moved over to his side, leaning in as he'd quickly noticed this wasn't something to discuss with a large group of people. Nick cleared his throat, picking up another sheet of paper, and began to demand whether anyone had part of _The Shining Star_.

"I just- I was talking to him _yesterday_, and he was going on about how it just wasn't clicking, and I thought "_ah, what the hell, he'll be fine_", and now…" he shrugged, looking around the room in an annoyed manner. "I mean, yeah, it's not my _fault_, but I could have read the signs, kept an eye on it, not let it get _this_ bad…" Wes shook his head.

"Come on, man, we're eighteen! He's _four years_ older than us, we're not meant to be looking out for him, it ought to be the other way around." Blaine nodded.

"He's right, Bastian, maybe you ought to have picked up on it, but…we shouldn't have to be worried about him." Sebastian shook his head, clearly showing that they didn't understand what he was thinking.

"Hammonds has made it clear that what Luc does reflects on _me_…I'm_ meant_ to be stopping this kind of thing from happening. It's ridiculous, I know, because he has enough brain cells to know that he can't just use it _once_, and he _certainly_ should know better than to just _carry on_ when he feels like using…" Sebastian shook his head. "It doesn't help, though; he still does it." Blaine, biting the inside of his lip, nodded, but Wes frowned.

"Doesn't explaining you looking like Caspar the friendly ghost." Sebastian glared at him.

"I resent that statement; if I were a ghost I would most _certainly_ _not_ be _Caspar_, I would be a violent, vengeful spirit." Wes snorted.

"Yeah, again I say; _whatever_."

"Are you sleeping alright?" asked Blaine, brow furrowing in concern for his boyfriend, and heart pounding just a little faster at the idea that there might be something going on - something _serious_ if it was stopping him sleeping - that he didn't know about. Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"I'm _fine_, head boy is just a little more difficult than I thought; Mrs Daniels gave me a long list of all the things that Nick and Jeff have done to disrupt the Carol Concert and told me to come up with a comprehensive way to deal with it." he snorted. "Why she thinks that _I_ want to do anything to stop their pranks I have no idea." he shook his head.

"Look, on the bright side," said Wes, with a sickening grin on his face. "it's almost the holidays." Sebastian threw him a glare of such intensity that Wes, his best friend since he set foot on Dalton ground, recoiled.

"Oh yes," he remarked scathingly. "the holidays - the _Christmas_ holidays. The joyous time in which I freeze to death in Alaska with my moronic cousins, what fun!" Wes rolled his eyes, but Blaine had to agree with Sebastian; he wasn't looking forward to going back to Chicago either, and not just because of the weather.

He had only spoken to Emily, briefly, about what had happened at the concert, but he was fairly certain that his reception would be anything but warm when he got back. He wouldn't be surprised that, because of the backchat he gave his father, he was thrown out onto the curb. Cooper was probably angry with him for dragging him into the argument, even if he knew that Blaine was right because Cooper was trying to sponge money of his dad - Emily had caught him stealing from his wallet - for whatever reason, and Blaine just _seriously_ damaged his chances.

However, Blaine stood by what he said. After all, it wasn't _his_ fault that his mum had fallen in love with an artist. His dad was boring, and narrow-minded, and his mum was a day dreamer, and she loved to sing. He sniffed at the memory of her spinning him and Cooper around the garden whilst singing something she'd written herself, and both boys had failed spectacularly at recreating. Most of the time Blaine was torn about wanting her to take him with her. On the one hand, he'd have been away from dad, but on the other he'd never have met Emily or Anna and Meg, or any of the Dalton boys, but, again, Garth might still be okay…

He sighed, moving away to get another bin liner, leaving Wes and Sebastian talking about Mrs Richardson was a terrible teacher and how they would "_fail_" their exams, wondering _how_ he'd managed to screw things up _more_. If he didn't know better, or fear Sebastian's wrath, he'd say that he had a tendency to do that kind of thing, but that was one of the few things that seemed to really set Sebastian off into full-on-pissed-off-rant mode, so Blaine found that it was best to keep himself from thinking those things.

He sighed and glanced out of the window. Approximately four weeks until the end of term. Not good. The sky was clouding over, and Blaine vaguely wondered if there was any hope that he might be allowed to stay at Dalton. He shook his head quickly, though, dispelling the thoughts because - barring some sort of snow storm that prevented him reaching the airport - there was _no way_ he'd be staying at Dalton. Speaking of snow, though…

Blaine drifted over to the window, eyes wide, and watched as tiny white flakes began to descend from the grey clouds from above. He frowned, just a tad, and he had no idea why, but he felt strangely mournful all of a sudden. Maybe it was his meeting with his dad, or Luc's relapse, that had given a rather sharper perspective to his life all of a sudden, but Blaine knew that he hadn't felt this depressed since he first _came_ to Dalton. He bowed his head and felt a hand on his shoulder. Twisting round he saw Sebastian standing behind him. Sebastian didn't say anything - God only knew he was _awful_ with words of comfort - but he just stood there, hand on Blaine's shoulder, and let his shoulder's shake with fear of going home.

* * *

"Okay, everyone, from the top." Mrs Fellany, standing behind the music stand that had music spilling over on both sides, waved her baton at the assembled choirs. "And, _please_, ladies on the Soprano part, try not to _screech_ at me; I want to hear angels, not banshees." The girls all giggled. "And boys," she said, turning to them with a pleasant enough smile. "I'm drowning in basses, and it sounds like - well, I'm not sure - but I don't like it." The guys all rolled their eyes, and Kurt stared at her a little blankly.

"Mrs Fellany, I think I'm going to faint." George's hand went up a second before the mousey haired boy slumped into a dead faint, and was hastily caught by Warren. Mrs Fellany blinked, and then dropped her baton in concern, scurrying over to his side.

"Alright, let's put the recap on hold, and take some time till George recovers." Blaine groaned, audibly, at the prospect of a break because it meant the Crawford girls could get to him. Sebastian had hurried over to speak to Jenny about something musical, and Blaine began to hide between Thad, who was busy texting someone, and Flint, who was busy trying to perfect _My Interpretation_.

"Blaine, you know they've seen you."

"And they're doing dares on whose going to come and talk to you." Two girls - one with ginger ringlets and the other who stood head and shoulders above _everybody_ else - came over. Kurt had quickly identified them as the two other girls that Blaine got on with, meaning they were both lesbians. Kurt hadn't managed to work out if they were together though, and thought it was maybe a little rude to ask considering he didn't really know them.

"I'm not _here_, Ros." he protested to Rosalyn.

"Yeah, sure you aren't." said Beatrice, rolling her eyes and shaking her head so that the ringlets bounced around and shimmered in the light. Kurt looked between the three of them with amused eyes, and they gave him a small smile before turning back to Blaine.

"Now," said Ros, a southern lilt beginning to colour her accent. "I never thought I'd say this, but I think it's time to go all "_Sebastian_" on their asses, what do you think?" Blaine shook his head.

"You _know_ I can't do that…I don't have Sebastian's…" Blaine trailed off, looking for the right words, the girls shared smirks.

"Bitchy attitude."

"Lack of conscience." Blaine gave them weak smiles whilst Kurt snorted to himself.

"Not quite what I-" he broke off as a tall girl with carefully styled hair and the figure of a model came striding towards him.

"Hey Blaine," she purred, and Kurt had to turn away to hide his laughter as Blaine blanched at Michelle's presence.

"H-_hi_!" he said, giving her a sickly grin. "How's school been?" Ros and Beatrice just shook their heads and turned to Kurt.

"So, Kurt, we've not really met." said Rosalyn sitting down on the ground, curling up her long legs, and handing him a juice box. Kurt accepted it with a wary smile.

"No, I suppose we haven't."

"Don't look so worried." said Beatrice with an easy grin, reaching over to pat his arm. "We're not going to _eat_ you…we've just heard lots about you from Elise." Kurt let out a long breath, and looked over at the girl who was giggling in David's arms.

"Right…" he said, taking a sip of orange juice in a relaxed manner, but still not sure what they wanted from him. Beatrice glanced at Rosalyn, and Ros scooted over to his shoulder.

"Lookee here." she said, crossing her legs. "We just want to make sure that you're alright." Kurt frowned, not sure he knew what they were talking about, and just a little confused as to why they were asking him that anyway.

"You're one of us, Kurt," said Beatrice in a soft voice, tugging at one of her curls. "I don't know if you know it, but you are…and we're a close knit group of friends-" her eyes flitted to Rosalyn for a moment, who gave her a reassuring smile. "-and we're _there_ for each other." Kurt nodded, not questioning the silent communication between the girls.

"I'm fine," he said, frown letting up just a little bit. "_really_." They nodded, but shared a glance weighed down with significance.

"Good," Kurt looked at them, not quite sure what to make of that statement. There was another weighted look, and then Ros broke into an excited grin. "because we heard about what happened with Luc, and we were just a bit worried that we might lose our _Once in Royal_ lead…" Kurt gave them half smiles as he knew they were lying, but still felt a little out of his depth and so just ignored it.

"Hello, Kurt," said Abby, sliding down by Beatrice's side. Kurt looked at the two girls, and saw that they didn't look that amused by her presence, and so guessed that he might just be wrong. "how are you?"

"Good, Abby." he replied with a small, tight, smile. She shuffled just a little closer to him; far enough away so that it appeared to be a respectable distance, but just close enough to be intruding upon his personal space. She gave him a smile that almost simpered.

"I'm so glad to hear it," her voice was too soft to be normal, and the smell of a rose perfume that had been copiously applied filled his nostrils. "I've been practising my singing, why don't you come round some time and give me some pointers." Before Kurt could think of a good reason to not, the other two girls both let out shouts of laughter. Abby turned, and glared at them whilst Kurt's mind spun for a good way to shoot her down.

"I can't do that…I have to…talk to Sebastian about the campaign for marriage equality in all states." he lied smoothly, and out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Beatrice giggling into her hands and Ros gave him an appreciative nod. Abby looked a little taken aback.

"Oh, well, after that…?"

"I have to revise for my exams, if I do badly I'll have to go back to McKinley where people constantly bully me for being the only person who is brave enough to come out of the closet." Abby gaped a little at him, clearly thinking that she was being subtle about her advances on him.

"Oh, well, I guess I'll see you around…" blushing scarlet she leapt to her feet and aimed a kick at Michelle. The girl who was practically sprawled across the scowling Blaine leapt up, apologising and dashing after Abby. Blaine let out a long sigh, and turned to Kurt.

"What did you do?" he asked, face pulled into a frown. "And what was up with Abby?" Beatrice seemed to reign in her giggles, and Ros stretched out, leaning against Thad's back, who didn't seem to care - or notice - about the new situation, and grinned, sanguinely, at Blaine.

"Oh, Kurt was just showing the professionals how it's done." Blaine blinked in confusion, glancing between Kurt and the girls with a frown. Then his face dropped into understanding, a small smile curving the edges of his mouth.

"I see…" he said, a self-satisfied look on his face. "I told you that would happen." Kurt rolled his eyes, not bothering to point out that Blaine was considerably behind the times.

"Yes, but Kurt can obviously fend them off." Blaine's frown fell back into place, and he turned back to Kurt.

"So, what did you say?" Kurt felt a smirk working it's way onto his face as he saw the amused looks in Beatrice and Ros' eyes.

"I told her that I had to talk to Sebastian about marriage equality and then that I had to revise otherwise I'd have to go back to McKinley where I was bullied for being gay." Blaine blinked at him at a moment before snorting, and shrugging.

"I wish I could say something like that, but…I don't know…it's _exhausting_ talking to them, but…" he shrugged. "Never mind," he said grinning, and getting to his feet as George began to walk of his own accord, free of his blazer and tie, and Mrs Fellany was calling places. "but Kurt," he said, catching his hand as they moved to split. "you're not leaving." Kurt blinked.

"What?"

"If you fail," said Blaine, serious frown on his face. "you're not leaving." Kurt felt a reassured smile slide onto his face.

"I know, my dad would _never_ allow it." Blaine allowed himself a small smile, and squeezed his hand in a reassuring manner, almost closing Kurt's airways.

"Yeah, actually, that's true, but it's not what I meant…" Kurt frowned, and Blaine sighed. "I meant, that _I_ wouldn't let you leave." Kurt felt a grateful smile, generated by the rush of warmth inside of him, cross his face. "You know, me and everyone else - even Bastian - we've got your back…and we're not going to let you just leave." Kurt nodded, into the weighty silence that had fallen between them. Kurt could feel his heart beating faster and faster at the intent look he was getting from Blaine. "I mean," said Blaine, swallowing and looking awkward. "Trinity would probably destroy the school if you _did_ leave so it's not that likely…" Kurt laughed it away with Blaine, and let him move off, but couldn't remove the weight that was pressing against his chest.

_I know it's not likely to happen, but…I can't help, but shake off the feeling that, maybe, they __**won't**__ let me come back. I don't know what I'd do…I mean, I __**know**__ I can pass these exams, but…I don't know, my head hasn't been in a good space a lot of the time that I've been here so I'm not sure how much I've __**actually**__ learnt…_

* * *

"It's snowing…" said Nick in a voice of pure wonder, spinning around and around in the falling flakes with a childish grin on his face. He seemed to move with an ethereal kind of grace, and even Jeff looked a little bit perturbed by his behaviour.

"Yeah, dude, have you never seen snow before?" David was looking at Nick as if he'd just turned orange and sprouted bunny ears and antlers. Nick continued to just spin around, and Jeff looked at Thad, who was shivering, arms wrapped around his chest.

"What the hell? He's _never_ done that before." Thad shrugged, teeth chattering together fiercely.

"He'sssss been….in-in-inssside t-t-t-too long." the cold was clearly making his stutter worse, and Jeff cast him a withering look at his decision to go outside without any kind over extra layer. Juri was the only person that wasn't bothered, and Blaine had to laugh at him as he tried to catch some of the elusive flakes on his tongue.

"Is he stoned?" demanded Sebastian, whose side Blaine was warmly snuggled into, and was giving Nick a look of total disapproval. Thad shook his head, but Sebastian didn't seem to notice the gesture. Kurt was grinning a little, too, at both Nick and Juri, his cheeks pink, and Blaine's old scarf wrapped around his neck securely. Blaine felt a little of the worry leave him at that; he wasn't too stressed about the exams…unlike Blaine had been…

"Holy _crap_!" exclaimed Wes, who was staring at the screen of a phone that Mac had thrust into his hands. Everyone looked at him as he crossed dashed to Sebastian's side, stamping over newly fallen snow, and shoving the mobile into Sebastian's face. Blaine stepped away from Sebastian's side as he tried to see what was being waved around in front of his face. He read the words on the screen, and his face fell into a murderous expression.

"Fucking hell!" he exclaimed, pulling out his phone, and Blaine stood on tiptoe enough to see the words "_Daley_" "_big reveal_" and "_tomorrow_".

"You can't _call him_!" exclaimed Wes, snatching the phone from between his fingers, looking scandalised. Sebastian blinked as the other boys came to a stop, even Nick had stopped spinning around, to watch the scene unfurl. Blaine felt a rising sense of panic in his chest; this had _better_ not be what he thought it was.

"Why not?" demanded Sebastian, looking somewhere between agitated and livid.

"Because he _won't_ take it well…call Morri-"

"Call Cameron." Liam interrupted the conversation with a soft order. "He'll be the only one that's available." Sebastian looked at Liam, sparing him a half glance before pulling the hone from between Wes' fingers and storming off across the grounds. There was silence as Blaine caught sight of Kurt, and the others, trying to catch his attention. He held up a finger. Wes looked at Liam with a raised eyebrow.

"Good call," he muttered. There was a heavy silence before David spoke.

"Wes, what the hell just-"

"I'll tell you when we get back inside." he answered, shortly. Blaine shifted a little feeling uncomfortable, and hurried over to David's side as they trudged through the increasingly heavy snow to the little out house. Emma happily let them all pass as it meant she could go to bed early and nurse her hangover. The atmosphere was awkward, naturally, because of the situation, and Blaine knew that Kurt, especially, would be baffled, but he couldn't explain because…well, he couldn't tell Kurt what had happened to Daley anymore than he could tell any of his friends what Karofsky had _really_ done to Kurt.

When they'd entered the Dalton grounds, Jeff and Nick seemed to make it their business to lighten the heavy atmosphere. They danced around in the snow singing Christmas songs at the top of their lungs. Jeff almost lifted Juri off the ground as he spun him around, and Flint had a look of happy resignation as he got thrown left right and centre by Nick. Blaine watched as Jeff sent Juri flying into David's arms, and knew, as he bent down, what was coming next.

"_Oof_!" Kurt stumbled backwards a snowball flew into his face, and Blaine felt a grin work it's way onto his face as he wiped the snow from his eyes, a furious look on his face. "_Jeff_!" he yelled, and then let out a little shriek as Nick and Flint's snowballs hit him on the side of the face. Blaine felt himself wince a little, imagining the stinging feeling as frozen water collided with his face, and watched as Kurt bent down, scooped up some snow, and threw it at Jeff with a battle cry.

It was the cue that the other boys had been waiting for, and Blaine happily bent down and scooped up a handful of snow, feeling his fingers freeze as he did so, and threw it at Mac. It landed in his hair, becoming lost and tangled in the curls, and Mac scowled at him, and hurled a perfectly rounded ball he'd had hidden behind his back. Blaine threw himself out of the way, and heard it collide with a tree.

The snowball fight quickly became a huge battle of the boarding students. Blaine, flanked by David and Juri with whom he'd formed a temporary alliance, were hiding behind a bush, waiting to ambush Nick whenever he next came by. Nick, along with Jeff and Thad, had the most effective strategy when it came to a snowball fight, and the others often struggled to land a hit. That was why they were trying to track him, and then ambush him.

"Guys," said Jeff, and they all jumped, and Juri dropped some of the snowballs he was holding.

"Jeff!" exclaimed David, frowning and looking _very_ annoyed. "How did you _find_ us?" Jeff tapped the side of his nose, and then smirked.

"That's not here nor there…Sebastian is coming out of the main building, and we're going to ambush him." Blaine felt a grin spread across his face, and saw that David and Juri had similar looks of glee.

"Cool! I'm on!" he exclaimed, and Jeff clapped Blaine on the back.

"Great, Blaine, you're key in the plan; you stand around, you run towards each other like in one of those rom-coms that he hates so much, and then we pummel him with snowballs…or, if you want to think of it in a more "_Sebastian friendly_" way; it's kind of like that scene in the Doctor Who season 4 finale, except Sebastian will get hit by snowballs instead of a Dalek beam." There was a moment of silence in which the other three just stared at Jeff before dismissing the random reference.

"I'm game." said Blaine with another grin, and followed Jeff as he scuttled around, just in time to see Kurt, covered from head to toe in white snow laughing with Drew and Chris, both of whom had been beaten into the ground by Fred's catapult. He looked incredibly happy, and Blaine smiled just a little bit more at the sight.

"Blaine, I think we're going to be in luck," Sebastian was striding along, seemingly oblivious to the lack of fighting that ought to be occurring. "I spoke to Cameron, and he seemed to be game. He has a plan, of sorts, and-" Sebastian didn't get to the end of the sentence because Blaine, a devilish grin breaking up his over composed features, threw a snowball into his face. Sebastian wiped his eyes in shock as Blaine laughed.

"Ha!" he exclaimed, continuing to laugh at the shocked look on his face.

"Blaine, what-" his sentence was cut off again as a load of snow landed in his mouth. Mac and Travis let out exclamations of joy and high-fived each other as Sebastian spat out the snow, and then Sebastian had to duck and cower as he was pelted from all angles by the laughing and cheering students of Dalton. Sebastian let out a growl of; "_Nick_!" and scooped up some of the snow that was constantly falling, and hurled it at the black-haired boy, who shrieked, cackled, and ducked.

Blaine cried out loud when he felt cold water drip down the back of his neck, and saw Kurt standing there, laughing, and Blaine shook his head, feeling more water dribble down his back, and tried to twist his face into the most threatening sneer he could manage.

"This is _war_, _Hummel_!"

* * *

Kurt's arms were overflowing with textbooks, past papers, revision notes and advice from his teachers as he hurried along the corridor desperate to get to Franklin after his last period French lesson so that he could get to cheerleading practise. Whilst he felt confident that French was one lesson he would be able to gain a "_mark acceptable of a Dalton student_" in, it was also infuriating that he'd gotten a load of homework from her _even though_ he almost topped the class.

_Stupid end of term exams! No big deal for everyone but me, it seems! I can't believe that my __**whole**__ Dalton future has to rest on these stupid tests! I've barely __**been**__ here! I mean, they won't kick me out, but they'll do __**something**__…I was threatened by Professor Lloyd, and I get the impression - from her dark expression - that I won't like it. __**Urgh**__! _

"Kurt! Hey, _Kurt_!" Kurt whirled around, several pieces of paper flying from his arms and he let out an exasperated groan. Keats, looking far less stressed and burdened, was running towards him. Kurt bent down to pick up the papers that he'd dropped, and succeeded in dropping most of his books.

"_Eurgh_!" he exclaimed, groaning in annoyed frustration. He dropped his bag onto the floor with a loud thump, and Keats squatted down, helping to gather up all of his things.

"Here, let me take this for you, alright?" Kurt gave him a soft smile as he got to his feet, feeling calmed by the presence of Keats' eyes, and not feeling _too_ angry about the papers being out of order as a result.

"Right." he said, voice slightly hoarse.

_Oh god, I hope I'm not developing a cold! That is the __**last**__ thing I need right now! Curse, Nick! Curse, Jeff! Curse, __**Dalton**__! Stupid snowball-_

"Cluck…?" the awkward, quiet, chicken impression shook Kurt from his angry thoughts, and he glanced around. He spotted two Freshmen at the other end of the corridor, both looking incredibly awkward, and obviously trying not to giggle. Rolling his eyes, his heart slightly heavy with worry and butterflies flitting through his insides, he looked upwards.

He was standing in the doorway for the chess club, Keats opposite him, and, above their heads, mistletoe hung from the doorframe. It was a small clump of the plant, attached, somehow, by a red ribbon. There was an ample amount of white berries upon it, and the shoots and leaves seemed to spread out, stretching as far down to the two unsuspecting teens as it could. The green leaves sharply contrasted with the dark wood of the doorframe and it was a wonder that Kurt had not spotted it, or at least suspected that it was there.

He let out a sigh, swallowing his nerves. He directed his eyes back to Keats, surprised to find that they were still startlingly calm. He wasn't sure what to do. The only two kisses that Kurt counted - he was trying to erase the memory of his time with Brittney completely from his mind - had been forced upon him, and he felt distinctly uncomfortable. Kurt, though he was unsure of what his feelings for Keats exactly _were_, he knew he had some - and strong ones at that. Ever since the concert, though, Kurt was unsure whether Keats actually liked him, after what he'd seen from Sebastian.

_Does Keats like me? Do __**I**__ like Keats? Will Keats kiss me, or will he back away? Do I __**want**__ him to kiss me? Am I ready? If he doesn't kiss me, I know I'll think that he thinks I'm broken, but can I go there…I know this is different, I __**trust**__ Keats - something that can't be said for the other two - and we're not in a deserted locker room, we're in a __**corridor**__…what could happen?_

Kurt felt something tugging on his arms, and he noticed that Keats was trying to take his books and papers from him. Kurt released them from his arms, letting him place them on the ground, and slid the shoulder bag down his arm and onto the floor. He took a deep breath, trying to ignore the pointless, cluttering, feeling of panic in his chest. Keats put a hand against his neck, cupping it, and making their gaze level.

"Do you want me to kiss you, Kurt?" he asked, voice soft, and Kurt's mind was slowly, slowly, grinding to a halt, being melted into a mush by all the warm fuzzy feelings in his chest.

"I-I…I don't know…" he said, quietly, and heard the feet scurrying away, no doubt having been made uncomfortable by Keats and Kurt. Keats nodded, his gaze soft and understanding. "I'm sorry…" he whispered, his hand coming to land on Keats' chest, eyes flickering shut.

"No, Kurt, don't be sorry…after what happened to you with Charles, I can understand that you might not want to kiss just _anyone_." Kurt looked up at him, brow creasing and a certain sadness appearing on his face. His other hand landed on the other side of Keats' chest. Keats' hand pressed against his right shoulder blade, bringing them just a little closer.

"You're not just "_anyone_", Keats…you- you mean _a lot_ to me, but I…I'm just a bit confused…" Keats nodded, eyes still understanding.

"I know the feeling…" he murmured. "Do you think- do you think if I kissed you that would help clear up matters?" Kurt shrugged just a little bit, a hint of a smile appearing on his face.

"I don't know…"

"Should we find out?" Kurt paused for a second of thought. He trusted Keats, and it probably _would_ help to clear up some of his feelings. Besides, he was beginning to suspect that he _really_ wanted to kiss Keats, if his hands, which were moving slowly up and down his chest, were anything to go by. If he didn't - if he'd got his feelings _wrong_ (and he was _pretty_ sure that he hadn't) then they could still stay friends, right?

"Yes." he whispered, nodding. Keats brought both his hands to rest on either side of Kurt's face. Unlike either of the other boys, his touch was tender and he gently stroked Kurt's cheeks. Kurt could feel them heating up under his touch. He brought their faces inches apart. Their breaths mingled, and Kurt could barely breathe from anticipation, his chest was almost unbearably tight. Keats' nose brushed against at his, and he shivered at the touch. Their lips met.

Kurt could feel a strange bubble rising up inside of him. It was a tiny bubble that grew and expanded as Keats continued to press his lips against Kurt's, continuing to thumb his cheekbones. Kurt knew that his hands had fisted into the lapels of Keats' blazer, and that he was running _completely_ late for cheerleading, but he didn't care. The bubble was filling up every inch of him. He could feel his extremities tingling. He felt so…so…_full_. He couldn't describe _what_ that meant, why that was important, but it was the only thing he could acknowledge. He felt _full_, aglow…brimming with contentedness, joy, happi-

_Crash_!

The two boys broke apart, both starting and Keats' eyes fluttered open in surprise. Kurt looked around, glancing over his shoulder, and felt a fresh wave of colour sweep up his cheeks, right to the tips of his ears.

Behind him, a layer of books on the floor before them, stood Blaine and the other five Junior Warblers, Juri, Chris, Drew and Fred. They all looked shocked by what they'd just seen, but Blaine was also a deathly pale colour as if he was _horrified_. Keats removed his hands from Kurt's face, smoothing out the creases in his blazer as started at the ten rather hostile looking boys who looked ready to bulldoze him down.

"_Keats_!" growled Jeff, his hands balled into fists. "_What_ do you think you're _doing_?" Keats' face suddenly became very composed, and he stepped round Kurt.

"I'll think that you'll find that I was happily kissing Kurt." Kurt flushed red at his words, looking at the ground feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Kurt, you okay?" asked Juri, taking a couple of steps towards his roommate. Kurt looked up at his friend, smiling widely.

"Yeah…I'm fine…" There was a long, uncomfortable, pause. Feeling uncomfortable in the situation, and what he'd just felt, he stooped to pick up his books. "I-I…I need to go to cheerleading." he stammered.

"Kurt, did you- did he…" Blaine was taking a couple of steps towards him, a floored look on his face, perhaps slightly _hurt_, and that caused something to flair up inside of him. Blaine didn't have a right to be _hurt_ or _annoyed_ or _anything_ because he and Sebastian had been taking great pleasure in stopping under _every bundle_ to kiss, and no one had cared about how _he'd_ felt.

"It's none of your business." he snapped, suddenly, letting his feelings take over what he wanted to say, letting his mind speak freely, which was perhaps a little unwise. "You go around snogging _your_ boyfriend at every turn so why can't _I_ kiss anyone? Just because _you_ don't like Keats doesn't mean that _everyone else_ does! You're just- I _can't_! It's _none of your business_, _Blaine_! I can _take care of myself_!"

"Kurt, I never-" said Blaine, walking towards Kurt. "Why can't you just-"

"Why can't I _what_?" he spat. "Take everything you say blindly? You've done nothing, but _refuse_ to talk to me about what happened, and do you know what _I_ think?" Blaine shook his head. "That _you've_ done _something_! That- that _this_ is _your fault_!" There was a long pause. A heavy silence weighed down upon them. Blaine looked nothing short of dumbstruck. Then he lunged at Keats.

"_You_-"

"_Blaine_?" Sebastian had rounded the corner, and his voice alone seemed to pull him back. He jerked back, like someone had pulled him backwards. Kurt felt his heart thudding wildly in panic. Blaine had just _lost control_! He'd just tried to _attack Keats_!

"Bastian, I…" Blaine was pressed against the wall, looking a little frightened.

"What's going on?" demanded Sebastian, looking sharp, alert, and his eyes focused in on Keats. Kurt bit the inside of his lip, feeling a little bit shaken.

"Keats kissed Kurt," said David into the silence that had built up. Something flashed in Sebastian's eyes. The fire had lit up inside his green eyes. "and then Kurt yelled at Blaine." Sebastian's dark look intensified.

"You-" he said, snapping his fingers at Keats. "-_explain_." Keats glared at him, but Kurt saw that there was something a little different about it, like it was just a touch…_exasperated_…?

"I kissed Kurt, under the mistletoe." Sebastian glanced up at the little plant above their heads.

"I see, and then?"

"Then, we were disturbed by these inconsiderate idi-"

"_Don't_ be foolish." Keats snapped his mouth shut, swallowing just a little bit. Kurt glanced between them, noting the incredible amount of tension.

"Well, they seemed to thing that _I'd_ forced myself upon Kurt."

"I wonder why." said Sebastian in a stage whisper, Keats' eyes turned from calm to angry in a flash.

"Don't you _dare_ insinuate that-"

"_Boys_!" Luc had appeared, unnoticed by anyone, behind Keats and caught a hold of his blazer. "Do we want to get expelled?" he asked, eyebrow raised and - no doubt because he'd been ordered to stay in bed - wearing a dressing gown over a pair of jogging bottoms and a lurid looking green sweater.

"No," muttered Keats, pulling himself from Luc's grasp with a scowl on his face, looking sour. Kurt swallowed, relieved that Luc had appeared when he had because he had been about to get worried that everything would descend into a fight.

"Good, that's good. Now, someone want to tell me what's going on?" The pause before someone spoke was longer than with Sebastian because Luc was a _teacher_, no matter how young and immature he was, and discussing this kind of thing was just a bit awkward. "Thad, come on, spill all." Thad shifted, uncomfortably, at the spotlight being dropped onto him.

"Um…Keatsss….Keatssss, um, he, err, he, Kurt…kissssed." Luc looked him up and down, perhaps noting that he looked completely uncomfortable, before raising an eyebrow.

"You-" he said, pointing at Keats. "-kissed one of my Trapps?" Kurt rolled his eyes as Luc indicated to him, and felt a little irritated that Thad had told Luc.

"_Yes_!" he said, tersely.

"Now, now, no need to snap. What else happened?" There was a long pause. "Thad, don't make me pick on you again." Thad looked at the ground for a second before sighing.

"Kurt- Kurt blamed…blamed Blaine for-for Fressshman year…" Luc raised his eyebrows higher, eyes falling onto the sheepish looking Warbler.

"Now, how would you know that, Kurt? I don't recall you being there." Kurt bit down on the inside of his lip.

"I just- I got a bit upset…" Luc nodded.

"Yeah, I guessed…what I want to know is, why did _you_-" he indicated to Keats again. "-kiss Kurtsie, here."

"Will you _stop_-"

"Sorry, Kurt, nickname's stuck." Kurt glared at his teacher before rolling his eyes just a little. Keats shifted, definitely looking uncomfortable in the situation he'd been placed in.

"I like him." Luc nodded, narrowing his eyes, and Kurt was also curious as to why it had taken him so long to say it.

"I see; better or worse than Sebastian." Keats looked startled, Sebastian snorted incredulously. Blaine looked at the ceiling and Kurt just choked on the air.

"_What_?" he exclaimed, and Luc looked startled before rolling his eyes.

"I have _got_ to stop telling you things that you're not meant to know." Kurt, however, wasn't so bothered with the music director, more focused on Keats.

"_You_ kissed _Sebastian_!" he exclaimed, eyes wide, thinking that it had just been a _crush_, not something that had been reciprocated. Keats looked incredibly awkward now.

"Yeah, once."

"You _kissed_ him!" he repeated, completely incredulous. He _couldn't_ believe it. Why would he _kiss_ Sebastian, of all guys? So what if he had a crush, Sebastian clearly didn't do relationships with anyone other than _Blaine_! Sebastian snorted, loudly.

"Well, it was a bit more than _that_!" Blaine groaned, putting his hands over his ears, the other boys just shook their head and Keats balled his hands into fists. Kurt felt something plunge inside of him as it occurred to him what was being insinuated.

"_You_…with _him_?" he stuttered out in disbelief. "You had…you-know-what with _him_?" Keats' knuckles were white.

"Sebastian, _really_?" said Luc, rolling his eyes. "Even I wasn't going to mention _that_!" There was a long pause before Keats turned on his heel and walked away. They all watched him go before Luc snorted. "Never thought I'd say this, but; smart kid…did well to walk away then…now, don't you all have places you need to be?" There was another long pause before Sebastian beckoned for Blaine to come with him. The others followed them, gathering up their things, and Luc put a hand on Kurt's shoulder.

"Come with me." he said, scooping up Kurt's things. Kurt followed him, heart hammering a little slower now. "You wanted to speak to me." Kurt nodded, a little mutely, trying to turn his mind back on, and get away from all the revelations that had just been shoved upon him.

"Yeah…about _Once in Royal David's City_?"

"Oh yes, I heard you were bequeathed the first verse." Luc turned a rather stern eye upon him, that wasn't overly terrifying given the fact that he still looked pale and walked with a slight limp.

"_Bequeathed_?" questioned Kurt, looking just a little bit confused. He'd put the solo to the back of his mind, finding that it inexplicably caused him to think of heart attacks and his dad dying, but now found that Luc's curious lexical choice - he would shoot Professor Lloyd for a affecting his sub consciousness another day - was enough for it to come to the front without him panicking.

"It's an honour, Kurt, to sing the first verse. You'll be joining the greats, such as me." Kurt looked up at him, a small smile tweaking the left corner of his mouth. He was glad that Luc was acting like himself, now, and guessed that if it was prestigious than maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

"It's just, I don't believe in God." Luc shrugged.

"Who cares? It's a performance, Kurt, who cares if you believe in it." Kurt nodded. "Look it up on Youtube, look for the English choir boys, they tend to be good." Kurt nodded, again. "I've also been told that you were upset by finding me the way I was." Kurt shrugged.

"My dad had a heart attack." he said, quietly.

"Ah, not cocaine induced, though?" Kurt shook his head.

"No, diet and stress."

"Ah…" he said, nodding in an understanding manner. Kurt looked up at the 22 year old, trying to work out if he dared ask him why. Luc eyed him up and down. "You want to know why someone as smart as me uses cocaine, right?" Kurt nodded, slowly. Luc sighed. "I'm a genius, Kurt, and when things click it's _brilliant_…imagine rainbows, butterflies, unicorns and Blaine and Keats in harmony and some wicked ménage à trois." Kurt choked on the air, cheeks colouring scarlet.

"_Luc_!" he protested. "You're my _teacher_!" Luc raised an eyebrow.

"Technically I'm not, I don't teach you anything…anyway, lets move on from your love life before someone spreads _that_ rumour." Kurt covered his face in his hands at the idea of the school thinking that he was involved in some sort of threesome with Keats and Blaine. He cheeks were definitely very hot from thinking about it.

"So, you take it when you feel bad?" Luc shook his head.

"When the ideas don't click, when the music doesn't sound right, when it-" he broke off, looking frustrated by his inability to put what he felt into words. "-when I just _can't_ get what I want in my head onto the paper…I use the cocaine as a stimulant." Kurt frowned.

"But, isn't it addictive? Have been on it this whole time?" Luc shook his head, looking faintly amused by his upset tone of voice. Kurt felt that the blush wouldn't be leaving his cheeks some time soon so he stopped thinking about it.

"No, I got clean last year, actually…You don't want to get on the wrong side of that little group." he indicated into the space behind Kurt, and Kurt guessed that he was referring to Blaine and his friends.

"They got you clean?" he said, mildly surprised. Luc nodded.

"Thad and Sebastian are _very_ good at emotionally blackmailing people, and, well, you just _don't_ get on the wrong side of Wes, David, Nick and Jeff…" he shrugged. "I just- Hammonds commissioned a piece for the Carol Service, he always does, but this one wasn't working…I needed something…and there was the cocaine." Kurt nodded, thinking that he understood what Luc was saying.

"But you've heart attacks before, that's what Jeff said?" Luc nodded.

"I know…I just took too much…I got high, wrote a lot, came down, took some more and it just…it wasn't working for me…then you walked in, disturbed me, I threw the cup and freaked out…I took some more, and I don't really remember what happened…" he looked suddenly morose. "I stop thinking, or I'm thinking too much, and I don't _care_ about what happens…" Kurt nodded.

"What…what happened to Thad?" he asked, tentatively, remembering the boy turning up on the sofa the next morning looking pale and shaken. Luc sighed.

"I had my first heart attack _ever _in front of the Thad…he panicked - stopped him from singing _Once in Royal_ coincidentally - and he never quite got over it; he nearly failed all of his exams because he just sort of _stopped_, wouldn't do _anything_…He's not a good person in a crisis, that's why Sebastian shouts every name under the sun about him being a bastard and his mum being a whore." Kurt's eyebrows shouldn't have jumped up as high as they did.

"_What_? Are you even _allowed_ to say that?" Luc shrugged.

"'S true isn't it? He was born out of marriage ergo he is a bastard, and his mum is a prostitute ipso facto his mum is a whore." Kurt spluttered on the air, feeling a sudden rush of sympathy for Thad, realising that he must get mocked for his heritage constantly.

"But, you _can't_ call him that…you could get _fired_!" Luc chuckled, letting Kurt into his suddenly clean office.

"Not going to happen, Hammonds would never turf me from Dalton…I'm like the son he never had." Kurt raised an eyebrow, but didn't argue. "Either way, it tends to shake him up…he _did_ save my life by stopping me choking on my sick, but I _did_ also need the AED. He's okay, though, he just needed Sebastian - or someone - to yell at him for him to get focused and do what was needed." Kurt nodded swallowing slightly.

"Yeah, alright, thank you, I guess." Luc nodded at Kurt as he took a seat behind his desk.

"It's no problem Kurtsie von Trapp, now hurrying along before you're murdered." With a final groan at the name that he knew he'd be stuck with for a long time, Kurt left Luc's office, not caring that he didn't have all his things, and began a mad dash towards Crawford.

* * *

"I'm surprised you're not dead." Kurt had been banished to a corner of the playing fields with Elise doing squat thrusts whilst she listened to different songs and tried to pick a definitive one for their routine. Kurt threw his blonde friend a glare before dropping onto the ground and beginning to do his punishment push-ups.

"Yeah, well, I will be soon." Elise rolled her eyes, clearly stating that she had suffered much worse from Coach Met, and flipped back a couple of tracks.

"What happened, anyway?" she asked, looking over at him as she began to braid her hair. "I mean, I'm sure you _were_ waylaid by Luc, but it doesn't take _that_ long to talk about a song." Kurt felt his cheeks heat up at the thought of the kiss in the corridor. Elise rolled her eyes at his blush. "You might as well tell me now because David will mention it anyway." Kurt rolled his eyes, and sat up, reaching for the water bottle.

"Well, Keats came up to me in the corridor, and we were going to talk, but then someone clucked and we realised that, err, that we were standing under the mistletoe." Elise's eyes lit up, and her mouth dropped open.

"Did you kiss?" she asked in an excited whisper. Kurt nodded. Elise's eyes went wide, an excited look on her face. "You wanted it, right?" she asked, quickly, but Kurt knew that she already knew the answer. He nodded again. She squealed, leaping at him, wrapping her arms around his torso and sending them sprawling onto the grass.

"Argh!" he exclaimed as he was squashed against the slightly damp grass. "_Elise_!" he groused. "Stop trying to kill me." the giggling girl got off him, happily pulling him up.

"This is _so _exciting! Are you guys dating now?" Kurt frowned, slightly taken aback by his reaction.

"Why are you so happy?" he asked, and Elise frowned in return, clearly a little affronted by the question.

"Why wouldn't I be? We're friends, and, given everything with Blaine and _Charlie_, you deserve this." Kurt blinked at the nickname, and then shook his head.

"No, I mean…don't you hate Keats? What with David being your boyfriend and all." Elise sighed, crossing her legs and tugging the letterman jacket tighter around herself.

"It's a bit complicated, but I wasn't really _around_ that much…I mean, I'd only _just_ gotten with David before it all went bad, and, well, I didn't really know them overly well." she seemed to be struggling to string a sentence together, and Kurt got the impression that she was now distinctly uncomfortable.

"Look," she said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that hovered over the two of them. "I don't really know how much you know, but if Keats _really_ likes you then I say it's good…maybe it's the first step to smoothing the whole thing over…I mean, shit, it was _bad_, Kurt…David broke down over it in the end - that's how upset they all were, it's the only time I've_ ever_ seen him cry…" Kurt swallowed, trying to imagine David - who just came across as strong and solid - crying.

"Did you- did you know that Keats had slept with Sebastian?" Elise looked at him, as if trying to work out whether it was trick question before nodding.

"_Everyone_ knows." Kurt swallowed, heavily.

"So, why didn't anyone tell _me_?" Elise shrugged, tucking her hair behind her ears and looking mildly thoughtful.

"Well, no one really talks about it, do they? I mean, I know Trinity run around and try to fix everything, but no one else bothers…not after Fred and Andy…" she shivered, slightly, and Kurt knew that it had nothing to do with the cold winds.

"What happened?" he asked, tentatively. "Because that's the _second_ time someone's mentioned that." Elise shook her head, firmly.

"I'm sorry, Kurt, but I _can't_…I promised." she shrugged. "Nothing's going to happen to you, though, you've got Trinity on your side…" Kurt frowned at her as she bit the inside of her lip.

"How do you know all of this?" Elise rolled her eyes, wiggling around on the ground.

"Between me, Cat, Jen and Lottie we find out everything." Kurt frowned, momentarily distracted.

"Who's Lottie?" Elise seemed to pause, her eyes widened a little bit, and her composure seemed to slip.

"Oh, she's, um, Charlie's older sister." Kurt felt his heart stop beating for a second.

_Charles has an __**older sister**__ and no one told me!_

"He has an _older sister_?" he asked, trying to hide how angry he was about no one telling him. "At _Crawford_, and nobody said _anything_!" Elise rolled her eyes, flipping her hair.

"It wasn't _that_ relevant, Kurt. I mean, Lottie and Charlie hadn't been as close as they could have been - not since Lottie and Morrison got engaged."

"Morri-"

"Oh, it doesn't matter, you'll meet him soon enough, he's lovely. Anyways, Lottie _did_ want to speak to you when she found out, but Hammonds thought you'd prefer it if she didn't, and there wasn't much she could do. She cried, a lot, and then yelled at her parents, and then decided that she couldn't face England." Elise sighed and looked Kurt up and down. "Lottie's a lovely person, one of my best friends _and_ my roommate, and she almost came out to see you when you came back, but she's a little bit…she's not as confident Charlie, not by a _long_ shot, and she balked at the idea." Elise shrugged, and Kurt narrowed her eyes.

"Was she going to tell me that there was absolutely no way she would _ever_ have dreamed that her brother would do this." he spoke a little scathingly, and Elise glared at him.

"_No_, she was going to tell you that she thought it was _her_ fault for encouraging him to just _go_ for it. He spoke to her, said that he'd found someone who he thought would make everything okay, but that he didn't think that they knew he existed…Lottie told him to just _go for it_…she didn't think he'd do what he did. I think she thought he was going to ask you out. That was, like, the first time they'd spoken properly in ages." Kurt bit down onto the inside of his lip, feeling just a little annoyed.

"You mean she had _no idea_ of what he'd do?" Elise shook her head, eyes slightly sharp.

"No…they use to be _really_ close, and then of course they were separated for a year when Lottie came to Crawford, but they were both messed up…Both of them were like…_zombies_, or whatever…They just did as they were told, didn't think about themselves, how they felt, or anything…" Elise shook her head. "They should have had _everything_, but…" she shrugged. "Sometimes, talking to a brick wall was more interesting than talking to Lottie, and then she met Morrison and all the walls fell down, and she was…_alive_…you've no idea…and Charlie was the same when he came, and he made _good_ friends - Al and Dom, namely - but Lottie told him when he met that someone, nothing was going to stop him…" Kurt frowned.

_Wow, this sounds __**really**__ messed up. I mean, I don't feel sorry for him, but feel sorry for his sister…I think I understand, though, he thought that, because his sister got the person that she wanted, __**and**__ I was gay, that nothing was going stop us - which I guess explains why he thought I wanted to kiss him…That is __**utterly**__ depressing…_

"And it didn't help that Charlie got his superiority complex." Kurt blinked at her, and then remembered;

…"…_he kept trying to leave, and I wasn__'__t finished. You don__'__t just leave my presence.__"_…

"Oh, well that explains that." Elise nodded.

"Quite…I actually think, but I don't know if this is true, that he was still smarting from Al's rejection…I mean, he took it well, and they were still friends, but…I think Charlie thought Al was the one-" Kurt thought back from the crying boy in Warbler Hall, and reckoned that Alvin had thought that too. "-and, well, he wasn't going to get rejected, again…no one likes getting rejected _twice_!" Kurt nodded.

"Nobody does." he muttered under his breath. Elise shot him a look, eyes calculating, and obviously trying to discern what the bitterness in his voice was about.

"I take it that you and Keats _aren't_ an official couple?" Kurt shook his head.

"We got interrupted by Blaine, David and the rest, and then I got angry and Blaine was going to attack Keats-" Elise didn't look that surprised. "-when Sebastian came, and then Keats got angry, and then Luc came and I found out about Keats and Sebastian, and Keats just walked away…" he sighed, and Elise looked mildly sympathetic.

"I guess it's better that he didn't start a fight." Kurt shrugged, nodding in a vague manner.

"Yes, I suppose, but…what happens if he doesn't want to come back." Elise gave him a knowing look.

"Trust me, that's _not_ his style." Kurt opened his mouth, about to question why Keats would sleep with Sebastian if he was into long term; Sebastian had made it abundantly clear that the only relationship that would ever mean _anything_ was his one with Blaine, when Coach Met's voice sounded over the grounds.

"If you don't start doing press-ups _right now_, I'll have you doing callisthenics at four in the morning for the rest of the _year_! And Tomkins, if you haven't got _three songs_ by the end of the practise you'll get the same!" Both cheerleaders sprung from their sitting positions, Kurt falling forwards to do a push-up whilst Elise sprang back to the jukebox.

_I've never really had __**that**__ meaningful a conversation with Elise before. I have to admit, it's nice to have a good girlfriend around who understands what's going on. I guess __**this**__ is why I made friends with the girls, that and they __**get**__ fashion._

* * *

"I don't _believe_ this!" said Blaine, striding around the room in an agitated manner. "I _really_ don't believe this! I just- I _can't_- _eurgh_!" The other boys lounging in Sebastian's room all rolled their eyes and shook their heads.

"Blaine, _please_ sit down." Blaine glanced at Jeff who had an annoyed look on his face. Blaine exhaled, heavily, and flopped down onto Sebastian's bed. The boy himself was not present, having hurried off to lacrosse practise with Drew and Nick, but they'd taken his room because it was the largest one they had.

"Look," said Fred, sitting up. "take this as an opportunity to smooth it over." Blaine tried his best to glare at his friend, but found that he couldn't.

"Look, Fred, I don't think that's going to happen." Chris had set down his pocket sized edition of _Alice in Wonderland_ which he'd been reading, and was staring at his friend with a sympathetic look on his face. Fred sighed.

"Can't stop me wishing, though." There was a long pause before Juri slid off the chair he'd perched himself on and walked over to his friend. He wrapped his arms around him and began to hum. There was a long pause, in which everyone else turned away as they tried to not crack up.

"Erm, Juri, whilst I appreciate the gesture; _I'm not friggin' Ivan_! _I am not __**five years old**_!" Juri released him, sheepish smile firmly in place.

"My apologises."

"You know, though, I reckon I'd still trust Ivan more with a blow torch." Fred let out a frustrated cry and kicked out at Jeff who cackled with laughter.

"You vill _never_ give Ivan blow torch!" said Juri, looking just a little over protective and Fred just ruffled Juri's mop of black hair.

"Don't worry, if he's anything like you I'll keep dangerous objects far, _far_ away." Juri nodded in a satisfied manner.

"Seriously, though," said Chris sitting up. "if you want to go and be friends with him…" he shrugged, pouting his lips and raising an eyebrow. "I reckon now's as good a time as ever." Fred gave him a shocked look, but Blaine nodded, sitting up, suddenly looking alert.

"Yeah, maybe you and Andy could make up as friends, and then you could find-"

"_Don't_ finish that sentence!" warned Fred, and Blaine cast him an apologetic look, ruffling up his normally immaculate hair.

"Sorry, I just- I can't think of anything else right now- _argh_!" he flopped back down onto the bed, looking frustrated beyond belief. "I want Morrison back." he grumbled, and the others nodded.

"By now he would have figured something out…or at least made fun of the situation." Heads were nodded, morosely as Flint spoke for the first time. Blaine could feel tears creeping into his eyes, he suddenly felt _scared_. He felt like he was teetering on the edge of a cliff. He felt sure that if he made a wrong move he'd go tumbling off; dragging _Kurt_ with him. Kurt, who really _didn't_ need any of Blaine's shit in his life after _everything_ he'd been through.

"It's probably better," said Jeff, quietly. "that he's still with Daley…I mean…" he shrugged, and there was a moment of silence when all the boys shared collective understanding. "Things with Cameron have _obviously_ _really_ come on, and I'm _so_ looking forward to meeting him, but I think he needs Morrison there…I mean they're basically _brothers_." Blaine barely nodded along with the others as he continued to stare at the floor, feeling an overwhelming sense of worry and failure.

"Blaine, this is going to be okay." Blaine sniffed and looked up at Chris, who was staring at him with wide brown eyes, that were sharp and alert, in tune to what Blaine was thinking.

"What happens- what happens if Kurt gets hurt?" There was a long pause before Chris looked at the other boys in the room. Jeff ran a hand through his hair, Flint stretched his limbs, Juri chewed his bottom lip and Fred picked at a blister on his hand.

"If he gets worried we tell him _everything_, Keats _has to_ tell him everything, and then Kurt has to make his own decision…" Chris shrugged. "I don't think that there's _anything_ more you can do."

"Also, make sure he knows that it wasn't your fault." added Flint. "'Cause he's got that wrong, but he doesn't know that."

"I can't stop it, can I?" Flint let out a frustrated noise, and threw his hands into the air.

"Blaine, if you are that worried, than _please_ just tell him what happened! I think he'll believe you." Blaine sighed, not sure whether he was able to do that. For whatever reason, he knew that Keats to Kurt was something like Sebastian to him. Blaine understood that, and he couldn't take that away from him.

"Then _please_," said Jeff, noting the reluctant look on his face. "stop stressing over it. What happens _will_ _happen_, and there's _nothing_ we can do other than be _there_ for him…It sucks like hell, but if you don't want to talk about it…" he shrugged. "Nothing any of us can do." Blaine groaned, hands over his face.

"I know, I know…I just- I need to be distracted."

"Well, I know _one_ thing that we can do." said Chris getting to his feet. "We can get out of Sebastian's room, and teach Fred how to pass a biology exam." the boy groaned, dragging a hand through his shaggy, strawberry blonde locks, and glaring at his friend.

"He makes a good point," said Flint, a grin on his face. "you're really going to fail this time round if you're not careful."

"I _will not_ fail!" he exclaimed. The other boys snorted.

"Yeah, and David's gonna get the top mark in French." There was more laughter from the boys, and Blaine pushed himself off the bed, a worried expression still gracing his features. Chris reached over and clapped him on the shoulder. Blaine smiled over at him. Him and Chris may not be _that_ close - they hadn't had much in common when they first met - but when Keats had drawn the battle lines, and made it clear that it was one side or the other; Chris was the first person not involved to pick him. He'd done it without question, just closed his book and walked to Blaine's side. He hadn't even said anything, but Blaine knew that it had given the others to confidence to choose a side - _his_ side. For that reason, Blaine felt a certain affection towards the boy, even if he could bore pants off Blaine when he began to talk about Renaissance art, or books.

"Blaine," he said, pulling him to the side a little bit as the others filtered into Blaine and Thad's room a rather intent look on his face. "don't overreact to the situation." Blaine raised an eyebrow, and Chris sighed in a sympathetic manner. "Look, Blaine, all Keats wanted was to be _wanted_, right?" Blaine nodded, slowly. "And Kurt strikes me as a similar type of guy, so, you know…it might be good for him, for them both." Blaine nodded, licking his lips in a tiniest bit of apprehension. "Also, doesn't that fact he didn't react when - a - he found that you kissed Sebastian-"

"Sebastian kissed me." Chris waved it away.

"Details, details." Blaine narrowed his eyes.

"Not really, if you think about it." Chris acknowledged the point he was making with a slight nod of the head.

"Anyway, and - b - when he sang _She Will Be Loved_, so doesn't that kind of indicate that, maybe, he's moved on…?" Blaine bit down on the inside of his lip, trying not to nod _too_ vigorously.

"Yeah, it's just- just something Sebastian said…" Chris held up his hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay…I don't know him like Sebastian." he tipped his head, smile on his face. "But just…think about it." he walked into Blaine's room. Blaine let out a long breath, shoulders dropping down. He knew he ought to consider that, maybe, what Chris was saying was true, but he trusted Sebastian more, he couldn't help that.

* * *

_I feel a lot more relaxed after cheerleading and talking to Elise. I mean, don't get me wrong; I'm __**dead**__ on my feet, but I just- I can't believe that I didn't think of unloading onto Mercedes. Oh god, she's going to __**kill**__ me when she finds out that I didn't tell her first; in my defence I was kind of busy. Still she's going to murder me…and then I'll have to talk to Finn, and __**dad**__…though I guess I only have to do that if we become official. _

"Greetings Kurt."

"Salutations Hummel."

"G'day Kurtsie." Kurt rolled his eyes, but gave the boys a smile as he noticed they were carrying his things.

"You know," he said, not really caring what had been said to him. "I think I preferred it when you used my middle name." They all giggled, a small skip in their step, and Kurt thought he knew why they'd cornered him.

_Well, didn't I once think that there wasn't anyone __**better**__ to ask about this whole thing?_

"Do you, um, you heard about what happened in the corridor, right?" The three of them cast him condescending looks, and Kurt rolled his eyes. "Of course you have."

"A poetic birdie-"

"-a _distressed_ one-"

"-all ruffled feathers." Kurt held up his hands, nodding and rolling his eyes.

"Okay, okay, enough with the analogy, I've got the picture." The three all grinned at him, and Kurt shook his head, rolling his eyes again in mild exasperation and amusement. "What do you think?" They all looked at him, wide eyed, obviously a little taken aback by his desire for their opinion. Kurt rolled his eyes. "_Yes_, I know I'll regret it, but I want to know about Keats…and guys seem to be the best people to ask."

"Oh, _Kurtsie_!" they all exclaimed as one, and wrapped their arms around him, clearly attempting to squeeze the air out of him from all angles. Kurt groaned, patting their backs at random intervals in an attempt to get them to let go.

"Guys, come on, let go!" he said, wincing in pain. "Guys, I _really_ need you to talk about Keats, _please_." Eventually they let go, Kurt took several steps back, putting a safe distance between them and holding up his hands. They continued to grin at him in a creepy manner. "I just- can please tell me what you think about me and Keats…_together_." They shared looks before replying.

"You go to him."

"He calms you down."

"He understands you."

Kurt almost rolled his eyes before stopping. They'd told him things that he'd basically already known, but they were things that hadn't really been given much weight until that moment; until someone had said it out loud. He swallowed, considering that to his relationship with Blaine. Blaine didn't- he didn't look _down_ on Kurt; he constantly said that he was amazing and that he really cared about Kurt, but Kurt knew that Blaine saw him as someone to be looked after, someone Blaine needed to mentor and guide, and Kurt knew that he almost didn't need that anymore. _Almost_…

"Kurt?" Kurt hadn't been able to give Trinity an answer, or ask anymore questions before there were footsteps in the hall, and he turned to see Keats standing there. Trinity giggled, a little hysterically, before darting away down the corridor, shouting how they would return his books to Franklin.

"Keats." he said, moving over to his wavy haired friend. "How, um, how are you?" Keats raised an eyebrow at the question, and Kurt managed to giggle at how stupid he had sounded. "Okay, dumb question." Keats nodded.

"Yeah, look…" he said. "Can you hear me out? Without interrupting?" Kurt nodded. "Good." he said, taking Kurt's hand and pulling him into a corner. "First, I just want to say that I'm sorry for just walking away, I just didn't want to get into a fight and get expelled." Kurt nodded.

"Yeah, I understand. It's o-"

"Kurt, what did I say about interrupting?" Kurt rolled his eyes, blushing, acutely aware that Keats was still holding his hand.

"Right, sorry." Keats rolled his eyes.

"Okay, well, anyway…I need to know, the kiss…was that just about the mistletoe?" Kurt blinked at him, a little confused because it was Keats that had, sort of, initiated the whole thing. "Kurt?"

"I thought I was hearing you out?" he said, a slightly amused smile on his face. Keats rolled his eyes again, humour glinting in his eyes.

"Oh, shut up!" he said, lips curving into a smile. "Look, the thing with Sebastian, you have to know that it was a mistake…I just- I thought that he liked me." he shook his head, Kurt looked up at him, grey eyes wide.

"You thought he liked you?" he asked, sympathy creeping into his voice. Keats nodded.

"He sort of, you know, flirted with me and he paid me a lot more attention than quite a lot of the other people he bedded." Kurt felt his face fall into a more and more gentle expression, his mouth falling slightly open. "I just…we had sex just before Christmas; the week of the Carol Service, _right_ before the end of term… There wasn't much time for talking, and so, when we came back, I figured that we might get together…it didn't quite work out that way because Blaine came, and Sebastian was, well, you know…" he trailed off shrugging, and Kurt did something without thinking. He reached forward, grabbed Keats' face and kissed him.

He didn't think about doing it, it just seemed like the right thing to do in that situation. He just saw the sadness, and the loneliness and the pain, and knew that he needed a stronger form of comfort than words or a hug. The solution had been obvious. He knew that he was seeing something that Blaine, and the others didn't see, or maybe they _couldn't_ see it, steeped in the past as they were. He knew that Keats had friends, he had four plus Trinity, but he knew that they couldn't comfort him like _this_. They probably didn't know how lonely he was, they probably didn't understand…maybe they didn't want to because nobody _wanted_ to see pain.

"Does that answer your question?" he asked, a sly smile creeping across his face, and Keats let out a huff of shocked laughter, eyes rolling towards the ceiling.

"I'm not sure…" he said, absolutely unable to keep the smile off his face. "I'd have to hear it again." Without further ado he crashed their lips together, and Kurt had no time for thought because the sensation was new and good, and _God_ did he not want it to end, but then came a long, shrill, wolf whistle. They broke apart, and Kurt looked past Keats' shoulder and saw that Vince, Andy, Parker and Stuart. They all had smug grins on their faces, though those grins didn't seem to reach their eyes.

"You know," said Stuart, hands in pockets. "if you wanna snog in the corridors, I suggest doing it _under_ the mistletoe…I mean, it would _really_ suck to be in detention now…"

"Cheers, Stuart." said Keats, rolling his eyes.

"We'll leave you too it," said Vince, winking. "See ya back in the common room…preferably alone." Keats gave his friends the finger as they walked away, sniggering. Kurt smiled up at him as Keats turned around, leaning against the wall.

"So, are we moving to a more…_appropriate_ location?" he asked, a satisfied look on his face. Kurt slapped him playfully on the arm.

"No, I have to revise." Keats rolled his eyes in a manner that was way too practised. "No, come on, I _need_ to pass these exams."

"Kurt," he said in a slightly placating tone. "you need to get _below_ fifty per cent to get kicked out, and that is _not_ happening to you. I mean, heck, Thad got below fifty in Spanish last year, and he's still around." Kurt looked up in surprise.

"I thought he was a scholar."

"He _is_ a scholar, but predominantly a music one…his academic scholarship is small." Kurt nodded, raising an eyebrow.

"Why is he still around?" Keats shrugged.

"Couple of reasons; one, it was just _one_ exam, two, he's not great with speaking languages, as you can imagine, because he got, like, fifty-_one_ in French, and the school were prepared to cut some slack. That, and he's only had Mr _Earl_ as his teacher who sucks like _hell_."

"Why don't the just fire him?" asked Kurt in a tone of confusion. Keats shrugged.

"Because he'd probably crawl into the nearest hole and _die_ if they did, a bit like Luc, but Luc's a genius." Kurt swallowed, thinking hard.

"Keats, I know this is going to sound weird, but…will come home with me on Saturday, to meet my dad." Keats opened his mouth, and Kurt gave him a look to silence him. "When you're not underhandedly trying to convince him to send me back." Keats grinned.

"Okay, I'll come on the condition that you never, _ever_, meet my father, deal?" Kurt paused, remembering what Sebastian had said to him. Kurt wanted to face that _man_ - if he could call him that - but he had to respect that that wasn't what Keats wanted.

"Okay, deal."

"Can we seal it with a kiss?" Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Just this once."

_Okay, now if we can through __**that**__ meeting without my dad shooting Keats on principle than I guess I might just have a boyfriend! Oh god, I could __**sing**__…actually, that's not a bad idea…I'm sure that Luc wouldn't mind me using the music rooms…I __**am**__ confused about my feelings. Blaine's just popped into my head, see, and now…Now, I've suddenly got this pang in my chest, and a strong desire to be sick… Oh god, I'm in __**way**__ over my head!_

"You okay, Kurt?" Kurt blinked, and saw a little group of boys poking their heads out of one of the doors to the music rooms and observing him with wide eyes. After the concert, Kurt had found that he could now put names to most of the faces that haunted the music corridor, and hung around with Juri. At this moment he could see Aaron - his silent neighbour in maths, Braden - the enthusiastic cellist who lived above Kurt and Juri, and his constant companion Pedro - who sometimes seemed to forget he wasn't in a place where everyone understands Spanish.

Kurt blinked and rubbed his eyes, eyeing them all up before replying; "yeah, I think I'm fine." They all shared frowns.

"Someone's not being expelled are they?" said Aaron, stepping out into the hallway, after checking the doorway for mistletoe. Kurt blinked.

"What?" Aaron rolled his eyes.

"The kiss in the hallway, there's rumours flying all over that Blaine and Keats had _another_ fight." He rolled his eyes, and Kurt nodded, and then realised what he'd done.

"No-no…there was no fighting." Aaron leant against the wall, folding his arms and mouthing making a silent "ah" of comprehension.

"That makes a change." he said, with a small grin. Kurt sent him an annoyed frown.

"Don't tell me that _you_ know everything as well." Aaron rolled his eyes, but his face was sympathetic.

"Kurt, day student or not, everyone in our year, and the one above, knows what happened." Kurt frowned, distracted by his words.

"Wait, day student? I thought that you were in Putnam." Aaron rolled his eyes whilst Pedro and Braden sniggered behind their hands. Aaron drew himself up to his full height, puffed out his chest and Kurt rolled his eyes, sensing an indignant outburst coming on, and shifted his position to get comfortable.

"I may be a _day student_, but I still require a house! Your house is like your _family_. They are meant to be there for you, and they are a supportive community who can…" Kurt tuned at that point. Hearing Aaron rant about the importance of being a unified house - like a family - wasn't _that_ interesting to Kurt, and he had more concerning things to think about. Braden and Pedro were both sniggering into their hands, and eventually Pedro got up from his seat, and began to play on the piano. The cheerful melody cut straight through Aaron's words, and he turned around with a fearsome glare in his eyes.

"Thank you, Ro." said Braden, slipping inside. "Now, please _stop_ playing _The Entertainer_." Pedro stopped obediently, and Kurt walked into the room with the three boys, not caring that he was _meant_ to be doing revision.

"Anyway," said Aaron, sitting down on a piano stool. "is everything okay? You looked…_distracted_." Kurt shrugged, not at all keen on opening up to three veritable _strangers_. They looked between each other, and shared knowing looks.

"You don't want to talk to us, that's fine." said Braden with a grin. "Why don't you sing it out? That's what you people do, right?" Kurt looked at him with a confused, slightly put out, frown.

"What do you mean "_you people_"?"

"He means a "_show choirer_"."

"You mean chorister, Ro, _chorister_." Pedro nodded his thanks at Aaron, and turned to Kurt with a satisfied expression on his face that confused Kurt.

"Um…I think…I think you're right, Braden." They smiled at each other, and Aaron offered him the piano stool he was sitting on.

"You do play, right?" Kurt smiled, and nodded.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Aaron shrugged.

"Lucky guess." Kurt slid onto the seat, and looked at the keys. He frowned, sorting through his mental encyclopaedia of music to find the one that fitted his emotions and the situations, and his considerable voice.

He began to play the short intro a little tentatively. The other three boys sat up, and shared knowing looks between them behind his head.

_I've made up my mind, don't need to think it over_

_If I'm wrong I am right, don't need to look no further_

_This ain't lust, I know this is love_

He _was_ going to be with Keats; the fact that he'd invited him to see his family should have been definitive enough for him, but the fact was…He _knew_ that he loved Blaine, and he didn't really knew how he felt about Keats. Keats was just _nice_. It wasn't a rush of jumbled, conflicting, emotions…it was just _nice_. Just _right_.

_But if I tell the world, I'll never say enough_

_'Cause it was not said to you_

_And that's exactly what I need to do if I end up with you_

He knew that the only way for him to get anywhere with Blaine was to just _tell him_, but he wasn't prepared to risk the friendship they had - even if Blaine felt the need to mentor and protect him, which was getting old because Kurt was getting surer and surer, especially in situations like this, that he could stand on his own two feet.

_Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavementsE_

_ven if it leads nowhere?_

It would be _so easy_ to just surrender his love for Blaine to the feelings he had for Keats. It would be almost painless, but he wasn't sure if he could do it.

_Or would it be a waste even if I knew my place_

_Should I leave it there?_

He wasn't sure that he could go into a relationship where he was constantly looking over his shoulder to examine Blaine and Sebastian's relationship, even if he was meant to be a supportive friend.

_Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements_

_Even if it leads nowhere?_

_I build myself up and fly around in circles_

_Wait then as my heart drops and my back begins to tingle_

_Finally could this be it?_

He'd been in love - in infatuation - twice before; he knew the routine. It ought to end with a broken heart for him, but with Keats it could be a different ending…It could almost be a happy ending, but with Blaine… Blaine could - _would_ given how his relationship with Sebastian was - shoot him down. Keats and him, though…they could last, and that's what Kurt wanted - what they both wanted…

_Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements_

_Even if it leads nowhere?_

He closed his eyes, raising his head, and knew that now was the time to start letting go. He'd given up on Finn and Sam, but he hadn't had Keats then. He might not give him the same feelings, but when they'd kissed…

_Or would it be a waste even if I knew my place_

_Should I leave it there?_

He couldn't just let an opportunity pass before him without taking it. He knew that he deserved Keats, and that he deserved to be happy after all the suffering and torment he'd had to put up with at McKinley.

_Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements_

_Even if it leads nowhere?…_

He continued to sing, fingers gliding over the keys, and aware that Pedro had begun to accompany him with a steady beat.

_Close your eyes, Kurt,_ he told himself, _close your eyes and let go. For once you're not giving up to go back into loneliness and solitude; you're giving up to get an honest boyfriend. You might never get another chance like this - the two other boys who've liked you have been… Keats is kind and good, despite what I'm being told by all my other friends…I might not be in love, but I'm happy and content, and that's good enough for me…_

"That's _beautiful_!" said Braden in a hushed voice. "Oh _wow_! You should sing like _that_ more often!" Kurt let out a little laugh, slowly removing his hands from the keys, and turned to the boys with a smile, remembering that they'd only heard him sing _Dynamite_.

"Yeah," said Aaron nodded. "no more of that Taio Cruz crap…please _always_ sing like a girl!" he begged with wide eyes.

"Por todos los santos!" _"By the saints!"_ whispered Pedro. "You mean _angel_!" Kurt didn't know what he'd said originally, but he blushed at the word "_angel_". He would never, _ever_, get tired of hearing the praise for his voice. He was sure that he had been parched of it whilst at McKinley, and now he could lap it up like water.

"Thank you," he said, dipping his head in gratitude.

"I take it you're giving up on Blaine, then?" Kurt swallowed, and didn't bother asking how he knew.

"That's the plan." Aaron smiled at him, lightly.

"It's a good one." he assured him, and Kurt nodded, getting to his feet.

"Thank you, I need to revise." The boys gave groans, glaring at him for reminding them, and he let out a small sigh, even though he left the room with a small smile on his face.

_You know, it's situations like that that make me thing I'm making Dalton up…I mean, those are people that I don't talk to who are concerned about me, and trying to offer me advice and support…It's __**so**__ unlike McKinley it's unreal…I just- I'm letting go of Blaine…it's worked before; I'll make it work again…_

* * *

"_So, what was it like? I mean, it __**was**__ your first kiss."_ Kurt smiled at Mercedes' words, glad that she'd tactfully chosen to omit Charles from the whole equation. What _had_ it been like? It had been _incredible_, he thought, but how did he put that into words? _"White boy, don't leave me hanging!"_ Kurt snorted, and rolled onto his front.

"I don't know…it was…it was pretty _amazing_." he said, finally, rolling his eyes at his inability to truly express how it had felt. He could hear Mercedes tutting over the other end of the line.

"_I need more details than that; was there tongue?"_ Kurt found himself blushing, and thanked the heavens that Juri had an extortionate amount of Orchestra practises.

"No." he said, calmly. "It was just…sweet, you know? He was really…_careful_." He shook his head immediately after he said that, guessing that it had come out slightly weird and wrong, but just let it pass.

"_I see…have you organised a date?"_ Kurt sighed, rubbing his hand over his face, and shaking his head as he spoke.

"No, I mean, I kind of want to, you know, introduce him to dad so he's coming to mine on the weekend, but we have exams, and I have a _ton_ of rehearsals…" he sighed, and heard Mercedes tutting again.

"_Come on, boy, this is your __**boyfriend**__, make time." _Kurt rolled his eyes in a manner of mild annoyance.

"It's not that simple, 'Cedes," he said, in a placating tone of voice. "I mean, I _need_ to pass these exams…it's important…I need to stay at Dalton."

"_Come on, Kurt, you're, like, the smartest guy I know…smarter than __**Mike**__, and he's __**Asian**__-"_ Kurt snorted, and rolled his eyes. _"There's __**no way**__ they'd kick you out…besides, you're a counter-tenor."_ Kurt rolled his eyes, again, because, _obviously_, that would solve all of life's problems.

"Yeah, well, whatever…maybe when the exams are over." he heard Mercedes sigh, despairingly, but didn't comment.

"_What about Blaine?"_ she asked, after a couple of moments of comfortable silence. _"I mean, you were __**crazy**__ about him." _Kurt sighed, loudly, and closed his eyes briefly.

"I don't know…I just- I'll get over it…there's _no way_ he likes me, and his relationship with Sebastian is _solid_, like, _really_ solid…"

"_But, Kurt, you __**loved**__-"_

"I thought I loved Finn," he interrupted, a little sharply. "and now we're _brothers_…it's _fine_, Mercedes…there's no point _waiting_ for someone who doesn't like me the way I like them…I'd much rather be happy with Keats as my boyfriend, than sit around and _pine_ over Blaine, and just get more and more heartbroken."

"_I guess…"_ said Mercedes, but she sounded unconvinced. Kurt lay down on his bed, nestling his head into his pillow and staring at the ceiling.

"Mercedes, I'm_ really_ okay with this, I promise…I just- I need time…" There was a long pause in which he heard some rustling as he presumed she moved around, and then she answered him

"_Yeah, I'll bet you do…oh, man, I can't __**wait**__ to tell the others…"_ Kurt almost sat upright in shock and worry.

"Mercedes!" he exclaimed, eyes wide. "You _can't_! There's _no way_ Finn could keep that a secret! You can't tell _anyone_, until I've spoken to my dad, okay? I don't want him finding out from anyone, but _me_, okay?" He heard her frustrated sigh.

"_Okay, okay, I won't tell __**anyone**__…They'll freak out when you do, though…"_ Kurt rolled his eyes, but allowed himself a happy smile at the thought.

"Yeah…shame I won't be seeing you guys in a while…" He could hear Mercedes sighing, and felt a pang as he remembered how much he missed his friends in the New Directions.

_Damn, I thought it would get __**easier**_.

"'_S alright, white boy, we've got enough drama to keep us entertained without you."_ Kurt snorted.

"Is this the Finn-Rachel-Santana thing, right? Rachel _finally_ found out?"

"_Oh yeah, and she was __**pissed**__…still is, actually, but we did learn that Puck has morals."_ Kurt chuckled a little incredulously, not having got the whole story off Finn in his brief stay in Lima.

"What?"

"_Oh, when Rachel was trying to get revenge, Puck walked out when they were making-out, said he couldn't hurt Finn like that again, said it felt wrong."_ Kurt was stunned into an impressed silence, one eyebrow arching.

"Would've guessed?" he mused, and he heard Mercedes chuckling in agreement.

"_Anyways, Schuster is trying to get us in the Christmas spirit, which totally __**isn't**__ working….I mean, we had __**shoes**__ thrown at us."_ Kurt let out a long snort of laughter, and heard Mercedes' growls over the other end of the line.

"You guys should have seen that coming!"

"_We sounded __**awesome**__, Kurt, there was no need to throw a shoe!"_ Kurt just laughed a little bit harder, and shook his head at the crazy antics of the McKinley.

"I'm sure…what else has been going on in the choir room? I need _all_ the gossip." he heard Mercedes laugh down the other end, and he relaxed into the bed.

"_Where do you want me to begin?"_

* * *

"Calm down," said Keats, shifting in the passenger seat, and eyeing Kurt as Kurt continued to flex his grip on the steering wheel, and bite his lower lip occasionally. "you're making _me_ nervous."

"You should be nervous, my dad has a shotgun." Keats raised an eyebrow.

"Okay…I'm still not scared of him, I've had worse."

"Your dad?" asked Kurt in a cautious tone. "Did he, um, hit you…?" Keats closed his eyes, leaning against the headrest.

"Can I make you another deal?" he asked, with a tiny smile on his face. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Okay, _one_ more deal, but no kissing, I don't wanna crash."

"I don't want to crash either, so we're good." Kurt rolled his eyes. "I don't want to talk about it, not _now_, okay? After your dad, I'll tell you, deal?" Kurt bit down on the inside of his lip before shrugging.

"Deal…was it bad?" Keats shook his head.

"We have a deal." Kurt shook his head, and examined the boy next to him a little more carefully. He was smartly dressed; lilac shirt, black slacks, grey v-neck sweater and a black blazer, but Kurt got the impression that Keats always dressed well. He had a rather blank look upon his face, and Kurt guessed that he was steeling himself for a poor reaction from Kurt's dad.

Kurt turned his gaze back onto the road, and silently questioning how his father would take it. Kurt knew that he was overprotective, and that - after what had happened with Charles - he wouldn't be that open to Kurt dating. However, there was nothing he could do to stop him from going out with Keats. Of course, it mattered a lot to him for his dad to approve of Keats, but his dad being unreasonable wasn't about to stop Kurt from getting his first shot of having a boyfriend.

…"_Dad, you have no idea what's it like!…I am the __**only**__ openly gay kid at school; in this town! I mean, why can't I walk hand in hand down a hall with a person that I like? Why can't I slow dance at my prom?" _

"…_You think I don't want those things for you? I do…You know, until you find someone as open and as brave as you…you're just going to have to get use to going it alone."…_

This was his chance. His chance to be able to - well, not walk hand in hand down the hall with Keats because that was against school policy - do what any normal teenager in high school got to do. He'd finally found someone, some _people_, who _were_ open and as brave as him. He knew of _four_ _people_ at Dalton, and Nick, and they were all out and had difficult relationships with at least one of their parents - he wasn't counting Nick in this because he didn't know whether that was the reasons were for Nick's difficult relations with Tristan - as a result.

If his dad couldn't see that Keats _was_ that person than that was his problem. Kurt couldn't make his dad see what Kurt saw in other people, it would be a little odd if he did, but at the same time he knew that he had a good chance of persuading him to meet him halfway on this. Of course, there would be threats to Keats' life if he ever hurt Kurt in anyway, but Kurt, whilst it was annoying, didn't mind because it meant that his dad cared, and him and his dad came first, above everyone and everything else.

He glanced back at Keats, and was a little surprised to see that Keats was moving his head from side to side to some beat that apparently only he could hear.

"Um, Keats?" he questioned, trying hard not to laugh at him, and Keats jumped slightly. His grey eyes were a little bit abashed, but he just shrugged.

"Sorry, I always listen to music when I drive…and if I don't have an iPod, or I can't control the radio, I listen to things in my head." Kurt gave him an almost glare before rolling his eyes.

"Well, why didn't you just _say_ that? After all, aren't _I_ the musical one?" Keats rolled his eyes.

"I'm turning the radio on." Kurt nodded, and let him fiddle with the channels until he found a channel that he was playing music he liked.

…_Stood there was my neighbour called Peter _

_And a flux capacitator…_

"_Seriously_, Keats? _Busted_?" Keats just grinned at him, flashing all his perfect white teeth at him, and Kurt just shook his head at the childish look on his face.

"_He said "I've been to the year three thousand_!" Kurt scrunched up his nose, shooting him a pitying look.

"Please don't sing, Keats, _please_." Keats just continued to dance around in his seat, jutting his head backwards and forward.

"_And your great, great, great, granddaughter is pretty fine"_!" Kurt shook his head, completely shocked by this other, incredibly childish, side to Keats and couldn't help but laugh as Keats continued to sing along; "_He took me to the future in the flux thing, and I saw everything_!" Kurt rolled his eyes, deciding he might as well join in the fun.

"_Boy bands and another one and another one and another one_!"

"See, fun!"

_Triple breasted women _

_Swim around town_

_Totally naked!_

The two of them made eye contact and broke down into hysterics, Keats doubling up and Kurt having a great deal of trouble keeping his eyes on the road. Keats kept trying to get back into the song, but every time he opened his mouth laughter came out instead of the lyrics. Kurt couldn't look him in the eye for fear of crashing the car.

_He said;_

"_I've been to the year three thousand,_

_Not much has changed, but they live under water_

_And your great, great, great granddaughter is pretty fine_!

They belted out the last chorus, Keats wonderfully off-key, and Kurt shouting over the top of him in an attempt to drown out the sound of his voice. Kurt found that he was breathless as a result, and saw that Keats was resting his head against the window as he continued to laugh.

"You are a _terrible_ singer!" he exclaimed, and Keats.

"I won't pretend that my skills lie in other areas." he said as the Backstreet Boys came on, and Kurt considered turning it off at the look on Keats' face.

"You're going to sing along again, aren't you?" Keats nodded, lips pressed together and a look of false seriousness on his face. Kurt rolled his eyes. "Okay, can you _just_ sing the chorus? Leave the verses to me, alright?" Keats frowned at him.

"I'm not sure I can do that-

_Tell me why? _

_Ain't nothin' but a heartache_

_Tell me why?_

_Ain't nothin' but a mistake_

_Tell me why?_

_I never wanna hear you say_

Kurt rolled his eyes at his - maybe soon to be - boyfriend, and decided that he might as well just join in;

_I want it that way_

_Am I your fire?_

_Your one desire?_

He tried hard not to glance over at Keats as he sung, but was mildly glad that he'd decided to obey Kurt, and not sing - to Kurt's eternal relief because he was completely tone-deaf.

_Yes, I know it's too late_

_But I want it that way_

_Tell me why?_

Despite that, though, he didn't seem at all shy when he was singing. He just jerked his head back and belted out the words to what he thought were the right notes. Kurt wasn't sure that his perfectly tuned ear could handle it, but it was still fun. He didn't remember the last time he'd just sat around and sung just for the heck of it. He would never have guessed that Keats would be the one to bring it back to him the fun.

_Now I can see that we're falling apart_

_From the way that it used to be, yeah_

He gave Keats a look that said "yes-this-_isn't_-a-verse-but-you-are-_not_-singing-this-part-either", and Keats held up his hands, smirking with grey eyes that twinkled, mischievously, with mirth. Kurt rolled his eyes.

_No matter the distance_

_I want you to know_

_That deep down inside of me…_

_You are my fire_

_The one desire_

Kurt glared at him, but couldn't keep a straight face because he was meant to be focusing on the road, and Keats was just making him laugh too hard.

_Ain't nothing but a heartache…_

Kurt was pretty sure that the two hour car drive just melted into nothing as he continued to sing along to various nineties and early two thousands hits that came onto the radio, slowly sure that his perfect pitch was being worn away by Keats' horrendous singing. His enthusiasm, which Kurt had absolutely never guessed was there, seemed to be bursting from it, and Kurt knew that he was going to make a great impression on Carole and Finn, at least.

"Okay," he said, pulling his Navigator to a stop. "we're here." Keats' smile seemed to freeze a little bit, and he glanced at Kurt with a look of apprehension in his eyes. "It's going to be fine."

"Well, as long as I don't get shot, I guess it will be." Kurt whacked his arm.

"I won't let my dad shoot you."

"So, you'd take a bullet for me?" Kurt rolled his eyes, not dignifying the question with an answer and simply getting out of the car. Keats slipped out of the car. "It's a serious question, you know, Kurt. I mean, if we're going to be going out, there are certain things that I need to know." Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, can we be serious?" He said, raising the other eyebrow. "You _do not_ need to know whether I would take a bullet for you. There are more important things that _I_ need to know; like, what really happened when you were Freshmen, or what happened with your dad?" Keats raised an eyebrow, smirking.

"Touche, but I believe we made a deal regarding the last one, or have we not sealed it properly?" Before Kurt could think of a snappy retort, Keats had pulled him towards him and kissing him on the lips.

"Hey, Kurt I saw your- oh!" Finn had opened the door, an excited look on his face, and fell silent with shock as he saw the two of them, locked at the lips, on the doorsteps. Kurt broke away, going red and noting Finn's look of stunned surprise.

"Hi Finn." he said as Keats looked away from them, with only a faint blush in his face.

"Err…hey Kurt…hello Keats…" Finn looked completely awkward, like he wasn't sure whether he was meant to be congratulating Kurt, running away or punching Keats in the face.

"Can you get out of the way, Finn, we need to come in."

"S-s-sure." he said, stepping out of the way, and Keats came in looking marginally awkward.

"Do you want anything to drink?" asked Kurt as he hung up his coat, and Keats shrugged.

"Um, sure, some water?" Kurt nodded.

"Okay, go through to the front room, come on Finn." Finn obediently trailed him into the kitchen as the sounds of Keats greeting Carole could be heard. Kurt glanced over his shoulder and saw that Keats was smiling and nodding a lot.

"So, um, what was that?" asked Finn as he opened the fridge and poured himself a glass of milk. Kurt rolled his eyes as he poured some water from a bottle into a cup for Keats.

"What did it look like?" he asked, a little scathingly. Finn sighed, taking a long gulp from his cup.

"Okay, so are you guys…you know, dating?" Kurt shrugged setting his cup down on the countertop.

"Not, not _exactly_, but we've kissed…quite a few times…I was just going to tell dad." Finn nodded, and then grinned at him a little kid, and hugged him. Still not quite used to the affectionate version of Finn he had as a brother, he hastily set down the bottle and patted Finn's back. "Oh, okay…" Finn let go, still grinning, and Kurt raised an eyebrow. Finn shrugged.

"I dunno, I'm just happy for you, you know…after everything that's happened you found someone." Kurt smiled up at his brother.

"Thanks, Finn."

"But, I have to threaten him."

"_Finn_."

"Come on, that's, like, one of the best things about being an older brother, right?" Kurt shot him a confused look, picking up the glass of water.

"That's ridiculous, Finn, _I'm_ older than you! By that logic, I should be threatening Rachel…actually I should be _killing_ her!" Carole and Keats both shared slightly confused as they wandered in and Kurt handed Keats his water whilst Finn shook his head.

"You might not want to do that…she slaps; _hard_." Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Please, I could take her in cat fight, after all I can pull her hair." Keats narrowed his eyes, looking between Kurt and Finn in confusion.

"Sorry, um, who are you fighting?" Kurt waved it away, sitting down on the sofa between his stepbrother and Keats.

"No one…it's nothing." he shook his head, and turned to Carole who was watching Keats and Kurt with slightly amused eyes.

"So, are you going to tell us why you've brought your charming friend with you?" Finn opened his mouth, and Kurt stepped on his foot, glaring at him. Finn shut his mouth, and Kurt turned back to the woman whose wardrobe looked _far_ better now that Kurt had been at it.

"Yes, but where's my dad?"

"Oh, he just popped out for some more milk, Finn gets through it like he did when he was an infant." Kurt chuckled, and Finn used it as an opportunity to step back on Kurt's foot.

"Hey, it's why I'm so big and strong." Finn posed like a superhero, and Carole shook her head rolling her eyes, and Kurt just shook his head as he laughed.

"What are you doing, Finn?" asked Burt as he came into the room, paper carrier back in his hand. "Kurt I wasn't expecting- what are _you_ doing here?" his gaze had zoned in on Keats, and Kurt looked at Finn with an exasperated look.

"I'll save the milk." said Finn, leaping to his feet and taking the bag as Burt took a seat, looking warily at the boy on the other side of his son. For whatever reason, Burt didn't find that he trusted the boy as he did Blaine or the other kid - Juri - that he'd met. Juri came across as polite, nice and clumsy, and Blaine always seemed to be there for his son, but this _Keats_…He was always looking at him with this _look_ in his grey eyes, and then there was the constant hand-holding, and the tension he'd picked up on between him and the other two boys.

"Um, dad, there's something we want to tell you…" began Kurt, a little hesitantly as Finn retook his seat.

"Go on." said Burt, trying to sit back and look unthreatening to his son, but menacing to the other kid.

"Well, um-"

"Look, Mr Hummel." said Keats interrupting Kurt, and Burt gave him a glare, but Kurt just looked a little worried. Keats took his hand, and Burt tensed a little bit. "I really, _really_, care about your son, and, preferably with your permission, I'd like to go out with him." There was a very tense silence. Carol put her hands over her mouth, but there was a glint in her eyes said that she was shocked-happy, but Burt had a slightly blank look. He turned his body, angling away from the _other_ boy.

"Son," he said, directly addressing Kurt. "is this what you want?" Kurt nodded, just a little dumbly, before scrambling to find his voice.

"Yes, yeah dad, it is." Burt frowned, glancing between the two of them with a terse expression.

"Have you kissed him?"

"_Dad_!"

"Answer the question, Kurt, it's a fair one, given what's happened." Kurt sighed, glancing at Keats who shrugged, slightly.

"Yes, dad, several times."

"And did you want it?"

"_Yes_, he _asked_ for my permission, okay dad? Burt nodded, glancing back at the kid whose other hand had clamped around his son's when he'd heard the slight rise in his son's voice. He had a very tense expression on his face.

"Are you aware that I own a shotgun?"

"Yes sir." he said, and Burt wasn't impressed by the smirk that was playing on the corners of his lips.

"And that I would shoot you if you laid a finger on Kurt in a way that he doesn't like?"

"Yes sir." he was nodding, but there was something about the look on his face - he'd seen on Kurt's before - that told him he was biting his tongue, holding back something he _really_ wanted to say.

"What is it?" Keats blinked, glancing at Kurt who shrugged. "You want to say something; say it." Keats sighed.

"I was just thinking that you'd only be able to shoot me if the boys at Dalton hadn't murdered me first." Burt nodded in a satisfied manner, glad to know that the boys at Dalton would be looking out for his son.

"Good, one more thing. You're out to your parents, correct?" A wry grin twisted onto his face.

"Oh yes, sir, I'm _out_." Burt frowned at him.

"Something wrong with that question?" Keats shook his head.

"No, sir." Burt frowned.

"I don't believe you." Kurt felt Finn shift uncomfortably, Carole placed a hand on his arm, and Kurt glared at his dad.

"_Dad_." he said in a warning, but Keats shook his head.

"It's okay, Kurt, I made you a deal, right?" Kurt rolled his eyes, but nodded. Keats swallowed. "I came out to my parents just before I hit high school, and it went down…" he seemed to struggle for a word that he could say that wasn't a swear one. "My dad grabbed me by the lapels of my blazer and _threw me_ against the wall. He told me I was a _spiteful_, _selfish_, person who was just trying to ruin his career and he threw me into _every fucking piece_ of furniture in that room, and my mum…" he said, breaking off, swallowing heavily. "My mum _stood there_. Just _stood there_. She didn't scream, she didn't cry, she didn't do _anything_." he broke off, and Kurt felt his chest rising and falling rapidly in horror.

"_Keats_, I'm so…"

"It doesn't matter, Kurt, it _really_ doesn't…she just believes the same _crap_ as my dad, not quite as militant though…" he shrugged, turning to face Mr Hummel with a steely gaze. "So, yeah, I'm out, and I'm proud, but you don't scare me because _nothing_ is worse than your dad throwing you into a glass fronted cabinet whilst your mum just stands there." There was a heavy pause in which Carole looked at him with sad eyes, Finn looked shocked, Kurt had his eyes closed and Burt Hummel just nodded. Keats shifted in his seat, loosening up his body. "That, and it's hard to be scared of somebody who loves their son so much, even if that makes you more dangerous." Burt nodded.

"Okay, but you take _everything_ my son's pace, and if he says he's not ready for something than he's not ready." Keats nodded, gravely.

"Don't worry, I've been there once, not going back in a hurry." he said more to himself than the other occupants in the room, but they all heard it. Kurt sunk his head into his free hand, Finn sat back in surprise, Carole shook her head and Burt just had a very blank look on his face.

"Excuse me?" Keats looked at Kurt who was just shaking his head. He shifted, looking a touch out of his depth.

"'Bout two years ago I had a…_one night stand_…my mistake, really, I thought they liked me, but they didn't…I was in _way_ over my head, and I thought I was ready, but I wasn't." Kurt frowned, looking up in shock.

"You mean, he _forced_ you?" Keats shook his head, eyes slightly narrowed as if he couldn't quite find the right words.

"No, I just…I wasn't _emotionally_ ready for…" he shrugged. "I don't know…I just remember feeling pretty crap afterwards…I didn't regret it till later…till it was _too _late, and then everyone knew." Kurt frowned, still thinking.

"Does…?" Keats looked at him, studying his expression before nodding.

"Yeah, _eventually_, but he's so oblivious he may as well have been blind…he didn't know what was going, not for a long time." Kurt nodded, and Carole cleared her throat.

"Well, why don't you two go up to your room, Kurt, and you can stay for lunch?" Kurt grinned at Keats and took his hand, leading up to his room.

* * *

_I don't know if this means anything, but I was a lot less nervous about showing Keats my room than Blaine. I know that I need to stop thinking about him - it's not going to do my relationship any good - but he's managed to get those __**darned**__ hazel eyes ingrained into my mind. I just have to let go, like I let go of Finn and Sam…It shouldn't be too hard, right? I mean, I still have to __**tell him**__ that I'm dating Keats…I mean, what if he takes it __**really**__ badly? What if he says we can't be friends? Oh this is going to be hell…It's just a friggin' __**door**__, Kurt, you can open it!_

"Hey," said Blaine, looking up as Kurt entered his room. Blaine had his wardrobe open and clothes were scattered around the room as he seemed to be attempting to pack. Kurt gave him a small smile, biting the inside of his lip, and cautiously sitting down on Thad's bed. "You okay?" asked Blaine, throwing some clothes into the suitcase.

"Yeah…" said Kurt, slowly, biting down on his lower lip in a nervous manner. Blaine looked at him, noting that his scarf was still wound around his neck, part of it dangling down over his breast. He frowned, and threw down the shoes that he'd been holding.

"I know how to cheer you up," he said, moving over to Thad's desk and shifting through some of the stuff that was still scattered there. Kurt frowned at him.

"What are you doing?"

"Give me a sec." said Blaine, and the panic in Kurt's chest was beginning to dissipate. He still had to break the news to Blaine, but he reckoned that the other boy already knew. Kurt put his hands in his lap as Blaine found what he was looking forward, and plopped down next to Kurt. "Take a look at this." he proffered a photo to Kurt, and Kurt took it, bemused.

"Does Thad mind you showing me this?" he asked, noticing that, on the back, it had the words-

_Nick and Thad - 2000_

_May the new century bring you joy_

-written in messy handwriting, that was almost illegible, but Kurt had managed to decipher it.

"Course not, turn it over, and guess who's who." Kurt, frowning, flipped the picture over and felt his mouth drop open at the two little boys who had party hats on their heads at jaunty angles, party hooters in their mouths, cheeks puffed out, and surrounded by brightly coloured balloons and streamers. They were _identical_. His mouth hung open.

"What. The. _Hell_?" he demanded. When he'd first met Nick and Thad he'd been shocked to find out they were related - however distantly - because they just _didn't_ look alike, to Kurt, but _here_…! Blaine chuckled, lightly, by Kurt's shoulder. Kurt swallowed, ignoring the butterflies that just made him feel guilty.

"Come on, _guess_!" he egged. Kurt bit down on his lip, again, this time in thought. He glanced between the two boys, examining their features carefully.

"That one's Thad," he said pointing to the boy on the left. "I think." Blaine grinned at him.

"Wrong." Kurt gaped at him, lifting the picture closer to his face in disbelief.

"You mean the one with _lighter _hair _isn't_ Thad?" Blaine grinned at him, shaking his head. "You're _joking_!" he exclaimed, re-examining the two boys and noticed - on reflection - that the boy on the right had a similar looking nose to Thad.

"I made the same mistake." said Blaine, a ghost of an old smile on his face. "I was sure that the one on the left was Thad, but I was wrong…" he turned to Kurt, looking him up and down. "How was your family, you're back earlier than we thought, everything okay?" Kurt nodded, hands twisting together.

"I-I…me and Keats…" Blaine put a hand on his shoulder, looking concerned.

"Is everything okay…has anything happened?" Kurt threw him a disparaging look, annoyed that he always assumed the worst. Blaine gave him a semi-apologetic look.

"Sorry, okay, I'm…well, I guess I'm kind of…_paranoid_." Blaine let out a small chuckle, and Kurt gave him a small smile.

"No, actually, kind of the opposite…we're dating, it's official." Kurt watched the expression of his face as he processed the news. First he looked shocked, then anxious, then a little annoyed, and finally he had a look of tired acceptance.

"Right, okay…" Kurt sighed, looking at his rather upset expression. He could tell that Blaine was unhappy, but Kurt felt no sympathy for him because he wasn't exactly _thrilled_ about Blaine dating Sebastian, but he didn't say anything.

"Look, Blaine, I know you guys aren't friends, but you're mine and you've…" he broke off, swallowing, aware that this could be goodbye, even if it broke his heart to consider it. "you've really been there for me, and you understand me, but…I _really _like him, and I'd _really like_ for you to still be there for me…I'm not- I'm not asking you guys to _make up_, or anything…but I'd appreciate it if you toned down the "I-want-to-murder-you" vibes whilst I'm around." Blaine chuckled.

"Right…" he hung his head in a tired fashion. "I just- Kurt, I don't know what Keats has told you, but he _betrayed_ me…" Blaine shivered, his hand touching Kurt's - or was it still _Blaine's_? - scarf for a second. "He did some things to me…" Kurt watched at him with an intent expression, surprised that he was suddenly opening up to him. "I-I don't want to put you off, because you deserve to be happy _so much_, and I can't stop him from making you happy, but you have to promise me something, okay?" Kurt nodded.

"Okay, of course, what?"

"Promise me that if anything happens-"

"_Blaine_!"

"_Please_, Kurt, just humour me, alright?" Kurt nodded, slowly, an exasperated look on his face. "Thank you…I just- if _anything_ happens, anything that makes you uncomfortable or just _anything_, you come and tell me, alright?" Kurt swallowed, frown dipping on his face.

"You- you won't get angry, will you? Because I don't want you to be expelled." Blaine gave him a small smile.

"No, of course not, I do have plans on staying alive, preferably graduating." Kurt snorted, chuckling to himself.

"Okay, if you promise you won't start a fight, I promise to tell you if "_anything_" happens to me. Deal?" Blaine took Kurt's hand in his own.

"Deal." he said, shaking it briefly. Kurt breathed out, deeply, as they broke contact, but remained sitting side by side. Blaine shook his head, staring at the carpet between his toes. "Look, Kurt, what you said in the hallway-" he began, but Kurt began to shake his head, vigorously.

"Blaine, no, it's okay…I take it back, well, _most_ of it." Blaine shook his head, shooting Kurt a look that Kurt was sure he'd learnt from Sebastian that told him to shut up.

"I just- you were right…like I've said, you deserve to be happy, and if he makes you happy…" he shrugged. "You were right to think that I'm not telling you things, but…" Blaine shook his head, a tense, pensive, expression appearing on his face. "You were wrong; _I_ didn't start it, okay? I did things, at the end, _in_ the end, that I'm not proud of…but it's…it wasn't really about _me_, per se…" Kurt frowned, considering it all.

"I know…I think I realised in the concert…it's about Sebastian, right? You were fighting over him?" Blaine sighed, bowing his head for a couple of seconds.

"I wish it was that simple." he muttered. "I wouldn't call it that," he said, looking up. "because I had _no idea_ what was going on…" he chuckled, a little darkly. "You've probably heard, by now, stories of my oblivious nature…I was _baffled_, for a long time." Kurt nodded.

"Yeah, that's what Keats said." Blaine nodded, taking a deep breath, and dipping his head just a little bit. Kurt took a deep breath, and glanced at Blaine, the ghost of a question hovering on his tongue. "How did it feel?" he blurted out, suddenly. Blaine looked at him, confused. "How did it feel when you found out?" Blaine blinked.

"Found out what?" he said, brow wrinkling in confusion, and Kurt really had to despair over Blaine's ability to _not_ pick up on the intense look Kurt was giving him.

"That Sebastian and Keats had…you know…" Blaine bit down on his upper lip, thinking hard. Kurt sat, hands folded in his lap, patiently waiting for him to answer.

"I don't know…" he said, eventually, shrugging. "I guess…when I found out I was little…_distracted_." he shrugged. "I guess it hurt 'cause I thought, maybe, he liked me, but…Sebastian told me that it didn't really mean _anything _to him…I mean, he's slept with Nick."

"_What_?" exclaimed Kurt, flying off the bed in shock. Blaine blinked up at him, and then shrugged.

"You didn't know about that, did you?" Kurt shook his head, thoroughly shocked.

"Wh- _why_?" he asked. Blaine shrugged, not looking at all bothered.

"I don't know; Nick was curious and Sebastian thought he was mildly attractive…" Kurt felt his lip curl, slightly, in mild horror and disgust.

"That was it?" he demanded, incredulously. "That was all they needed to sleep together?" Blaine nodded, slowly, giving him a small smile.

"Look, for Nick and Sebastian sex doesn't carry the same…_weight_, I guess…it doesn't mean as much to them as it does to us." Kurt frowned at him, sitting back down and trying to shake off the weird feeling he now had all over his body at the thought of _Nick_ sleeping with _Sebastian_. He opened his mouth, wanting to say _something_ to Blaine, but the door flew open before he could find the right words.

"_Snowball fight_!" cried Braden, and an excitable grin spread onto Blaine's face as Kurt muttered "not again" under his breath, and glanced out of the window, realising that it had been snowing since he got back. He also realised that there was _no way_ that Blaine was going to let him pass this up, even if Kurt had a load of revision to do. True to what Kurt had thought, Blaine grabbed Kurt's arm and proceeded to drag him from the room, despite Kurt's protestations about schoolwork and hair.

Kurt had to admit that, though he was completely behind on revision for the History exam, he had enjoyed the gigantic snowball fight that had occurred outside. The snowflakes had continued to fall in great droves as they played, and, though it was meant to be the houses against each other, Kurt found himself being pelted at by Juri, who had remarkably good aim, until Keats had found him, dragged him down behind a tree and kissed him to the extent that Kurt was sure the snow would melt because of his burning cheeks.

* * *

_I don't know __**how**__ I made it through exam week. I had no sleep, and it was a nightmare to practise with the Larks - Abby seemed to have "__**forgotten**__" the conversation we had - and I think I might take up Blaine's strategy of just running away, but they're talented, there's no getting around it, and I think the Carol Service is going to be good. We get our results in the first week of the holidays - they get emailed to our parents. According to Flint they do this - not because they don't trust the students to tell them - but to make sure that the parents get some indication. I'm constantly surprised by Dalton's attempts to get parents interested in their children's lives. They actually give a damn, for a change, but it's such a shame that Dalton doesn't invite friends or family to the service - the church isn't big enough - so my __**second**__ solo will be going unwatched by my family and friends._

Kurt rubbed his hands together. He looked at the other boys, all of whom had their badges adorning their lapels, and he tried not to freak out too much. He'd heard, over the course of the week, that the first verse of _Once in Royal_ was the biggest honour a Dalton student could be given, and a _true_ acknowledgmentof his talent far greater than that of getting a solo at any of the concerts or competitions. That had been enough for him to _completely_ forget that he was singing about Jesus.

"You ready?" asked Blaine, leaning into Kurt's shoulder. Kurt nodded, not sure that he really _was_, but not about to let his nerves show in front of everyone. He was disappointed that he'd been almost unable to spend anytime with Keats whatsoever during the examination period, and-

"You'll be fine." assured David, popping up from nowhere. "You have the voice for this." Kurt nodded, knowing that that statement was completely true.

"Yes, I do."

"Well, there were are then, Blaine, no need to stress, Kurtsie is full of self confidence." Kurt looked over at Blaine, who gave him a sheepish smile in return.

"Sorry, just…performances stress me out, and you're _amazing_, no doubt about it, but I just start thinking "_oh my god, what if this happens, or that, and all of this could go wrong_" and I just really stress out for whoever's performing; it drives Sebastian _loopy_." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"_Really_? I'd _never_ have guessed." Blaine threw him a look through narrowed eyes.

"Oh ha ha." he muttered, and then dived behind David and Nick as the Crawford girls came on. They were wearing navy blazers, too, with similar but different crests and badges pinned on. Elise and Cat came running over immediately, and most of the others looked around, clearly searching for Blaine. Kurt felt to hands grab the back of his blazer and he was moved backwards as David stepped out of the way to sweep Elise off her feet. Cat just stopped short when she realised that Jeff was running late.

"Hey, Kurt," said Abby, sidling up to him. "I'm looking forward to your performance."

"You've heard me sing it like a dozen times." _Unlike Keats_.

"Still, it'll sound magical in the church."

"She has a point." said Nick, smirking, and winking at both of them. "The church's acoustics are _amazing_!" Kurt nodded, mutely.

"Kurt, this is your moment." Luc had chosen that moment to appear, and the Crawford girls scuttled away at the sight of Sebastian by his shoulder. "If you do well; you go down in Dalton history, you screw up; you also go down in Dalton history - it's win win." Kurt shook his head, a laugh escaping his lips.

"Thanks, Luc, reassuring." Luc held out his arms.

"It's not what I'm here for."

"Look on the bright side," said Wes, appearing with tousled hair and a girlfriend whose blazer was rumpled and creased. "now that you're snogging Keats, you can't a bad review." Kurt glared at Wes who chuckled to himself.

"Seriously, though, Kurt don't mess this up. I have several readings to give, and if you ruin the _one_ good thing about this service, I will make your life _hell_." Kurt rolled his eyes.

_Like you don't already._

"Alright, everybody, let's roll!" it was Hammonds, face pulled into a rather austere expression, and eyeing the ladies from Crawford and their unusual distance from the Dalton boys. "Kurt, good luck with your song."

"Get up onto the balcony, Kurt," said Luc. "and _wait_ for my signal." Kurt nodded, leaving the small antechamber with trembling knees. The teachers in the back row smiled at him as he crept past them. Sutherland gave him the thumbs up and Hartfield wiggled his eyebrows whilst Coach Met just winked at him. He climbed the stairs as Luc strode, imperiously, down the aisle the front where the Orchestra was arranged. Mac, who was seated at the organ, gave him a small smile as Kurt turned to stand at the front, looking over the pews to the stain glass windows behind the altar. He saw Luc turn around, waving at Kurt, and flicked his wrist, queuing Kurt to sing.

_Once in royal David's city,_

_Stood a lowly cattle shed,_

Kurt felt exposed as he began to sing - completely unaccompanied - on the balcony of the church. His voice echoed around the high ceiling, and he sounded strangely thin compared to when he'd been singing in the halls at Dalton and Crawford.

_Where a mother laid her Baby,_

_In a manger for His bed:_

Following Luc's instruction, which was a lot of hand gesturing, he raised his voice, and tried to pretend that this was just another song by Lady Gaga that he could belt out at the top of his voice. He was thrown by the sudden quiver in his voice, and he cursed Nick who had told him the acoustics would be amazing.

_Mary was that mother mild,_

_Jesus Christ, her little Child._

He had to admit, though, that the more he projected the better it sounded. At the end he sounded less like a frightened ten year old, and more like the soon-to-be Broadway legend that he was. He didn't get anytime to marvel in his success because Mac had slammed down on the keys, and the four combined choirs had come in with;

_He came down to Earth from Heaven…_

and that was Kurt's queue to scurry back down the steps and join in the procession that was making it's way down the aisle. He was relatively near the beginning, and, thankfully, next to Aaron, who still didn't speak to him in maths despite them being sort-of-friends. It was a slow walk, and he had to try and keep a straight face when he went past Chris, Drew and Fred who all pretended to swoon at the sight of him. Keats shot him a wink and blew a kiss whilst Stuart and Andy made kissing faces behind his back, Parker turned off his hearing aide, and Vince slumped against Stuart's shoulder, half-asleep.

_And our eyes at last shall see Him,_

_Through His own redeeming love;_

The choirs formed a three line deep semi-circle around the Orchestra as the congregation, minus Vince who was slumped in a pew sleeping, sang with them. Kurt found himself behind Juri's chair, and Aaron poked him in the back as Juri sung, standing on his feet. Juri almost fell into his stand, but Kurt snatched the back of his blazer, and shot Aaron a half glare as they continued sing a harmony part.

_And He leads His children on,_

_To the place where He is gone._

The song came to an end, and there was a moment of respectful silence before a round of applause started in the hall whilst Mac came to the front of the balcony to take a bow, and the Orchestra and choir sat down so that Kurt could take his own bow. He went a little pink as loud whistles sounded through the church that broke the decorum of the ceremony just a little bit. He sank down onto his seat as Hammonds got to his feet accompanied by someone who must be Crawford's headmistress to give thanks to the people who gave them the church, and Sebastian picked his way to the pulpit to deliver his first reading.

Kurt began to understand, quickly, why they said the service was boring. After Sebastian had read one passage from the bible, followed by the church - _minister_? - _reverend_? - _pastor_? - Kurt wasn't even sure - talking about how God had sacrificed his son, and that we should all be grateful _blah blah blah_. Aaron had to jab him in the ribs to make him focus when they had to sing their next him. Kurt had to admit that the choir did sound good in the church, but he just wanted to fall asleep by the time Sebastian was doing his third reading.

* * *

_I'm not sure how I managed to__** not**__ fall asleep during that service. Even Nick and Jeff racing toy cars down the aisle and around and around Mrs Daniels when she tried to catch them and Thad "fainting" across the brass section when she tried to grab them, causing a huge pile up, wasn't enough to get me interested. Now, it's the end of a term. My mind is officially blown, I can't quite believe I've been here so long. I'm fully packed - unlike __**some**__ people (Juri) - and my dad said he'd be here in a few minutes to help me take my stuff back. Now I just have to say my goodbyes…_

"Hey, Kurt," it was Parker, leaning on the doorframe, small smile on his face. Kurt got up, leaving Juri lying on the floor where he was looking for something, and walked over to the deaf boy.

"Hey Parker." he said, coming to stop and giving him a smile. Had Parker been one of his other friends he would have given him a hug, but he'd always felt like Keats' friends didn't really _want_ to be hugged in any kind of way.

"Just came to say goodbye." he said, nodding to himself. "And, I guess, that I'll see you at the New Year's party, right?" Kurt shrugged.

"I don't know…I guess…when is it?" Parker snorted, and Kurt rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean." Parker nodded, still laughing to himself.

"You just turn up on some time on the 31st, heck, you can go back before that…it's up to you." Kurt nodded, a small smile remaining on his face.

"Okay, I guess I'll see you there then." Parker nodded, stepping backwards as Juri let a "_aha_!" of triumph.

"See you, Kurt." Kurt gave him a final wave as he moved along the corridor to the stairs. He yawned, moving back into the room as Juri crawled out from under his bed.

"I found my sock." he said by way of explanation. Kurt nodded, trying hard not to laugh at him, and just shook his head, checking his phone and seeing his dad wasn't here yet.

"That's great, Juri, now answer me this; are you bringing all your things back?" Juri's blue eye's pierced into him, accusing him of being an idiot. Kurt raised an eyebrow, sending a patronising expression back at him. "So, why are you so bothered about _one_ sock?" Juri opened his mouth, gaping at him.

"Vell…" he said, suddenly frowning at him. Kurt just shook his head, and got to his feet, examining the corridor and looking to see if anyone else he knew was leaving. Right on cue, Chris turned up, headphones resting around his neck, and a satchel of books slung over his shoulder.

"Hey, Kurt, Juri!" There was a crash and Juri was flinging himself onto his friend. Chris took a step backwards, trying to not topple over, and Kurt laughed. "Okay, okay, _dying_!" Juri let him go, and Chris gave Kurt a much gentler, warmer, hug.

"I'll see you at New Year?" asked Kurt, stepping back, and Chris nodded.

"You _bet_, you'll love it." Kurt nodded, smiling lightly. Chris ruffled up his hair, and grinned at Juri whose eyes were dancing with _electricity_. Kurt looked between, frowning just a little bit in mild confusion at the silent communication. "Just don't _die_." said Chris rolling his eyes. Kurt frowned properly in alarm, and Juri just flung himself back onto Chris. "_Help me_!" he wheezed, and Kurt tugged Juri off.

"Okay, calm down." he said, putting the boy a little distance away from the one he seemed to want to strangle. Chris nodded to both the boys, and dashed away, before Kurt could get a chance to demand to know why Juri might be dying. "Okay, so why might you being dying?" he asked, giving Juri a severe look.

"I like some person…I trek out to see them, but I caught new-mone-e-a." Kurt looked at him, eyebrow rising.

"You caught _pneumonia_ visiting your _girlfriend_?" Juri gave him a glare.

"Not my girlfriend." he mumbled, his accent almost swallowing his words. Kurt rolled his eyes, and then began to grin at the pink flush rising in Juri's cheeks.

"You like this girl?" Juri turned even redder, his normally pale face alight with colour. "Juri, _come on_."

"If you're trying to get Juri to tell you about his crush, then you're wasting your time." Kurt twisted around and saw Blaine standing there, Thad by his shoulder.

"So, you don't know anything about this girl?" Blaine shook his head.

"We've been trying for over a _year_, but we got nothing." Kurt back round for Juri and saw that he'd dashed into bathroom, and was humming as loud as he could.

"Well, I'll see if I can't wear him down." Blaine chuckled, shaking his head.

"Good luck…" a heavy pause settled over the two of them, and Blaine shifted on his feet. "Well, I just wanted to say goodbye, and that, fingers crossed, I'll see you at New Year." He sighed, and Kurt looked at him with a frown.

"Are you okay?" Blaine let out a snort, and levelled his gaze with Kurt's again.

"Actually, that's what I want to ask you." he made his way into the room, leaving Thad in the doorway, and sat down on the bed next to Kurt. "This whole…_experience_ at Dalton must have been pretty crazy; needing the scholarship, being away from your friends and family, Charles and Keats…I guess I want to make sure that you're leaving here on a good note." Kurt let his face sink into a thoughtful frown.

_I guess…I guess I __**am**__ leaving on a high note. Yeah, the downs were __**low**__, but they weren't as bad as McKinley, and I have a boyfriend - an actual honest-to-God boyfriend - which is something I wouldn't have __**dreamed**__ of at the start of the year. I think I've got my head around Dalton at last…I've kind of worked out that you just, sort of, have to go with the flow, and see where it takes you. I never imagined I'd be a cheerleader again, or singing in Carol Service, but both of those things I've had solos in, and it's garnered me respect…I mean, I've met __**Katelyn Slade**__ and __**Rosanne Watters**__! I'm __**really**__ okay with where I am…I mean, don't get me wrong, there's a part of me that wishes I didn't have to come here, but I'm starting to appreciate that it's what I needed, not just the safety, but the community. I'm a part of Dalton, a school that protects it's gay students. Don't get me wrong, things could be better; mainly __**Blaine**__. The fact that I have unrequited feelings for him is bad enough, but the fact is they're __**not**__ going away…It's not getting better, I can just get distracted from them, but they're still __**there**__…_

"I'm okay," he said, a grin tugging at his mouth. "I'm _really_ good." Blaine smiled, and patted his knee in a strange gesture of comfort that made his cheeks go a little red, and caused Thad to shoot him a look through narrowed eyes. Kurt glared back at him, and he just readjusted the position he'd adopted against the doorframe. Blaine glanced in the direction that Kurt was looking, and let out a hearty chuckle.

"Thad hasn't set foot in this room since Freshman year," he informed Kurt. "He walked in and was promptly attacked by a load of balloons." Kurt quirked his eyebrow, looking between the two boys. Thad had rolled his eyes, crossing his arms, and Blaine laughed again. "It was Juri's birthday, see, and Trinity had rigged a surprise…Thad screamed _so loudly_…" Blaine shook his head, still grinning at the old memory. Kurt looked back at Thad who scowled and muttered.

"Clownsss." under his breath and shuddered visibly. Kurt blinked in shock.

"You're scared of clowns?" Thad scowled deeper, shooting Kurt daggers, but eventually shook his head. Kurt looked back at Blaine who was choking on his laughter now. "You're _not_ scared of clowns?" Thad nodded, emphatically, and Kurt frowned. "Well, why did you scream?" Blaine took a deep breath, and looked back at Kurt.

"They weren't balloon clowns, they were balloon _animals_!" Kurt was _sure _that Blaine was joking, but then he glanced at Thad's pale face and realised that Blaine wasn't messing with him.

"You're afraid of _balloon animals_?" he demanded, incredulously. "Is that even a legitimate fear?" Blaine shrugged, still smiling, and Thad let out another huff of annoyance. "I mean, are you afraid of animals _and_ balloons too?" Thad shook his head with a grunt of annoyance. Kurt blinked in shock. "Okay…"

"Don't question the reason." said Blaine. "We tried and _tried_, but even _Nick_ couldn't work it out." Kurt turned to Thad with wide eyes, but Thad just shook his head.

"Your eyes won't work on me, I grew up with Nick." Kurt blinked in shock, sure that that was the longest, most coherent, sentence Thad had ever said to him. He turned to Blaine to point it out, but saw that he'd become engaged in helping Juri pack, which meant he was throwing some things into the suitcases and others back into the open cupboards.

"You're done!" exclaimed Blaine when Juri walked in, his normal pale safe. Juri did a double take at the closed suitcases, and stumbled in confusion. Blaine leapt up and caught Juri before he smashed his face into the floor, and Juri gave him a grateful smile.

"Thank you." he said, righting himself, and smoothing out the wrinkles in his uniform. Blaine rolled his eyes, and yawned.

"Come on, let's go to the foyer, we can say goodbye to everyone." Kurt got to his feet and grabbed his two cases, and slung the satchel over his shoulder which was filled with the books he needed for the holiday work he'd got for his subjects. Kurt wasn't sure whether or not he felt comfortable with the idea of Juri carrying two large suitcases, but Daniel had turned up to assist him.

"You know something, Blainey," said Daniel as he ambled across the grass. "you've had a very good term." Blaine looked at his pixie friend with a frown on his face.

"What do you mean, Feel? I had a good Sophomore year." There was a long pause in which Blaine was glared at by three people and Kurt looked up in surprise.

"_Blaine_!" exclaimed Juri, staring at him with wide eyes. "Autumn term you vere _terrified_!" Kurt looked over at Blaine who looked uncomfortable.

"It was nothing." said Blaine, glaring at them for talking about something that he could not _bare_ thinking about. "I got over it all…Summer term was _fine_." There was a moment of silence in which Thad shrugged at the questioning looks he was getting from Daniel.

"Yeah, I'm sure it was." Daniel patted his forearm, and Blaine shook his head whilst Kurt frowned at him.

"What was wrong?" he asked, and Blaine shook his head again.

"You don't want to know." Kurt fixed him with an intense glare.

"You can't speak _for_ me." Blaine let out a frustrated sigh.

"Okay, _I_ don't want to talk about it. I _never_ want to _ever_ talk about what happened!" Blaine stormed off across the lawn in a frustrated manner. Kurt blinked, and Daniel looked at the other two boys with raised eyebrows.

"Is it just me, or is Blaine getting angrier?" Thad rolled his eyes, and shrugged, not answering Daniel's question. Kurt rolled his eyes, realising that it was probably something to do with what had happened with Keats, and guessed he wasn't getting any more answers than he had previously.

_Ah well, I guess I'll have a couple of weeks to just forget about it all…I mean, I'm __**definitely**__ going to be keeping in close touch with Keats because we're __**dating**__, but I don't think I'll be in touch with others much…I'd __**like**__ to talk to Blaine, but he'll probably be talking to __**Sebastian**__, and the time difference between Ohio and Moscow is huge…it's got to be about eight-nine hours, right?_

"_Kurtsie pie_!" The moment they made it to the foyer, they were launched on by various people. Juri was attacked by Fred and Drew, David, Nick, Jeff and Flint leapt at Blaine, and Kurt was attacked by Trinity - Daniel had flung his arms around his back, all screaming his nickname. Kurt stumbled back several paces and caught sight of his dad with a small smile on his face as he dropped his cases so that he could pat them.

"Hey guys," he wheezed. "can you let go of me now?" They refused to release him, tightening their grip, and Kurt wheezed a little.

"We'll miss you!"

"We'll write everyday!"

"We'll phone too!"

"_Great_!" he exclaimed. "If you haven't killed me." They looked up at him with wide eyes of green, brown and blue that _promised_ that they wouldn't kill him, or let any form of harm befall him.

"Okay, guys, leave my boyfriend be." The three small boys were pulled from his body, and he let out a great sigh of relief, stumbling a little forward and straight into Keats' arms. "Easy." said Keats, a smirk on his face. "Why don't we try and live until New Year?" Kurt straightened up, catching sight of his dad watching them.

"Yeah…" Keats took a half step backwards.

"I'm going to miss you…South Carolina's a _bore_…if I don't come back for the party it's cause my dad's killed me - or forced me to go to a work thing, which is only marginally more likely." Kurt looked him up and down, a worried look on his face.

"If anything happens, and you get _really_ worried, will you promise me that you'll get in your car and drive to me? Or failing that _call_." Keats sighed, looking a little torn.

"I'll _call_, but I can only promise that I'll go to Vince's…I don't want my parents - my _dad_ - to find out where you are," he looked very serious, his grey eyes clouding over. "because I _can't_ promise that he won't hurt you." Kurt swallowed, heavily.

"You don't have to protect me, Keats, my dad has a _shotgun_!" Keats' eyes went even darker.

"And my dad has _sixty_ armed guards on rotational duty who can use _snipers_!" Kurt's mouth snapped shut as he fought for something that would trump that. Keats' head quirked to the side, and a "told-you-so" expression appeared on his face. Kurt rolled his eyes. "_But_ if I go to Vince's my dad won't care because Vince's dad is his _election campaign manager_, but he's _never_ around so he can't _get pissed off_ about me being gay!" Kurt sighed, heavily.

"Okay, okay." he said, sighing and dipping his head. "I just wish…"

"Wish what? That we could go around and be how we wanted? That we didn't have to worry about my dad? Or anybody? Time's are changing, Kurt, but it's happening _slowly_." Kurt looked up and nodded.

"I know, I know…it just _sucks_." Keats gave him a lopsided smile.

"That's what life _does_." Kurt returned the smile with a small one of his own, and he fought for some words that would take away the hanging silence.

"Can we make that a deal?" he asked in a hoarse whisper. Keats' eyes flashed with amusement, and he bent down, closing the distance between them quickly. Some people wolf-whistled, others sniggered and some made retching noises.

"Get a _room_!" exclaimed Stuart. "A _soundproofed _room!" Keats broke away from the kiss, pulling too far from Kurt for him to be happy, and glared at his friend, giving him the finger. Burt cleared his throat.

"Kurt, son, you ready to go?"

"Yeah," said Kurt, fighting the blush and ignoring the uncomfortable looks on the others' faces. "just give me a sec." He left Keats being beaten by his friends, and moved round hugging all the various friends he'd made, and several acquaintances from the Warblers. Keats' friends didn't hug him, but they did clap him on the back and shake his hand.

"Take it easy, Kurt." said Wes, slapping his back. "And we'll see you at New Year. You too, Mr Hummel, take it easy…don't die on Kurt." Kurt choked, and kicked at Wes' shin. Wes leapt back, yelping, whilst Burt frowned down at his son.

"What?"

"No-nothing, we just- I told them about the heart attack." he muttered, and Burt nodded, rubbing his shoulder.

"Okay, kid, let's go." He got a couple of waves and "_bye Kurt's_" as they left the building. Kurt let his dad lift the suitcases into his car, and told Kurt to leave his, and Kurt felt touched that his dad wants to drive him home, and then back for the New Year Party, and so he didn't complain - he could always borrow Finn's car if he needed to go anywhere in the holiday.

He climbed into the car with a slightly sad feeling in his chest. It wasn't long until he was going back - even if he had to clear the party with his dad first - but he had a feeling he was going to miss Dalton more than he originally thought. The New Directions had just been a hodgepodge of students, where their only combined love was singing, and the differences had been the best thing. Now, though, he was at a school where he was welcomed for everything that made him similar to other people _and_ different. He wasn't "_the only gay kid_" anymore, but Kurt Hummel.

_I never thought I'd find anywhere like Dalton, and when I did I never thought I'd be able to go here. Even if it took a death threat to get me here, I'm still happy… I'm safe, and I'm happy - I really couldn't ask for anything more…_

* * *

**Next Time- Tidings: 'Tis the most wonderful time of the year, but for some Christmas is more a trial than a holiday. Whilst Kurt enjoys the company of his family and friends, Blaine struggles to make his way back in the city he used to call home, but when Kurt runs into an old face, he begins to question the validity of his relationships…**


	14. Tidings

_**Dear readers, **_

_**I apologise for the delay in posting this chapter; I had all the ideas in my head but transforming them into words took much longer than I was expecting. Also, after this chapter, I won't post the other till well into December, most likely January, at the earliest because I have my grade 7 cello exam, my real solo GCSE recording AND my mock GCSE's all creeping up on me so I read to practise and revise, LOTS! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll be interested to hear any of your thoughts on it because I'm unsure how all of this came across. **_

_**Enjoy reading and thank you for your support and patience!  
Sopphires. **_

* * *

**The Scholarship**

**Episode 14: Tidings**

_I think Christmas has to be one of my favourite holidays. For one, there's an excuse to do a **load** of shopping, and, secondly, it's a time where I get decorate the house and bake, and my dad **doesn't** give me weird looks. I mean, don't get me wrong, I think the whole thing about Jesus is just bullshit, but I appreciate what Christmas is about; love and family…and I can celebrate both those things; I mean, my right to love whoever I want is kind of the most important thing in my life - that and my dad, so, yeah, Christmas is pretty good holiday for me, plus dad always splashes out on me, so good presents here I come…_

Kurt opened his eyes slowly. His bed was warm, and the room was dark and quiet. Finn, it seemed, was either still asleep or had figured out how to leave a dark room quietly. Kurt was going for the former. Finn was not only an ungraceful person, but his head, also, seemed to be too far away from the floor to pay attention to his feet.

Kurt let out a low moan, and rolled over. Today was the first days of the holidays, and most of his stuff was packed away; curse boarding school! Of course, Dalton didn't _tell_ it's students to take all their stuff back home - as far as Kurt was aware there was no rule that said the boys themselves had to go - but Kurt wanted to change his wardrobe, and wear some of the clothes.

Kurt sat up with a groan that was a little too dramatic for that small piece of exercise. He threw off the covers and turned on the small but tasteful bedside lamp, and was shocked to see that the bed on the other side if the room was empty and neatly made. Blinking in astonishment he got to his feet, and flicked on the main light.

He glanced at the clock face and was shocked to see that it had gone _nine_ o'clock! Kurt _never_ lay in that long! He must have slept for about _eleven hours_! He hadn't even had that tiring a day yesterday. He'd just gone out for a long lunch with dad in Westerville over the course of which Kurt had told him all about the carol service and his solo and the things that had happened in the run up to the end of term like the exams and the snowball fights.

They'd gotten back at around five, and Kurt had then had to repeat all his stories to Carole and Finn whilst eating popcorn that Finn had made for no apparent reason. However, it was relaxing, considering the amount of noise that Finn generated, and the fact that he knew Carole was biting her tongue to ask some more about Keats - a topic that Kurt didn't really want to discuss with his dad in the near vicinity because Kurt _knew_ that his dad wasn't sure what to make of the wavy haired boy. Kurt was _sure_ that telling his dad that he'd already had sex with someone _hadn't_ made a good impression upon Burt.

The shower was enough to convince Kurt that, maybe, it had been a bad idea to sleep in as it was ice cold from previous use, and he hopped around as he tried to make the handle turn further so that it would be hotter. It was to no avail, and he had to go without washing his hair and the bathroom not being boiling from steam as he dried.

With an extra blast of hairspray, and checking his appearance once last time in the mirror, he deemed himself ready to go down to breakfast. He tweaked the tie around his neck, and decided that he wasn't sure why he was so determined to make such a good impression; last time he'd come down for breakfast in his dressing gown. Then again, when Keats had been here, lunch had been _unbearably _awkward, and Kurt had ended up talking nineteen-to-the-dozen about everything he could think of to fill the awkward silence.

_Though_, he mused, _it probably wouldn't have been so bad if Keats had decided to __**open his mouth**__! I have no idea why he chose __**then**__ to close his mouth - he normally talks __**a lot**__, and this was __**after**__ he'd decided to tell my dad about him and Sebastian…_

"Mornin' Kurt!" said Finn from the sofa, already watching the highlights of sort of ice-hockey game on the TV. Kurt shook his head at his brother's obsession with sports that he couldn't even play, and turned into the kitchen.

"Kurt!" exclaimed Carole, clearly halfway through a strong cup of coffee, and checking her watch. "It's good to see you, honey, I thought that I'd be leaving without seeing you." Kurt smiled at her, and searched for some oats for porridge - daily breakfast with Keats and his friends had got him accustomed to this for breakfast - and some banana to put on.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what happened." he admitted, small smile on his face that was a little sheepish. "I almost slept for _twelve hours_!" Carole gave a loud laugh.

"Well, you looked a little out of it when you came home; you've been working yourself too hard." Kurt didn't disagree with that statement because the run up to the exams and the Carol Concert had been one long blur of what needed to be done.

"I wouldn't disagree with that statement." he said, wryly. "Professor Lloyd kept going on about how I had to do "_above average_" because I took no entrance exams." Carole scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Kurt, you're obviously going to do far better than that. You were always too smart for McKinley." Kurt smiled up at the woman that was his step-mother, but was just like a good friend, and he heard Finn cough.

"_Hello_, your birth child in earshot! What about me?" Carole and Kurt shared amused looks, and both laughed to themselves.

"You're a very talented singer, Finn, and an excellent sportsman."

"Thank you!" he called back, and turned back to the TV. Kurt laughed some more at that, and turned to make his breakfast properly as Burt tramped inside.

"Alright, drive's clear." he said, looking over at Kurt and smiling at the sight of his son. "You finally decided to join us?" Kurt shrugged, and made his way over to one of the armchairs, sitting down and glaring at the highlights that were _still_ playing.

"If the channel isn't changed soon I might just be leaving again." Finn groaned.

"But I haven't seen the game I want yet."

"Finn, change channel, _now_." Finn grumbled about Kurt hogging the telly, but obediently turned off the sport. Settling back to watch the news, which got him some raised eyes from his dad, he contentedly ate his breakfast as Finn talked about their championship game which was coming up not long after they went back to school, and, though he wasn't going to say it out loud now, Kurt was hoping to come.

When Kurt finished his breakfast, and was putting it away in the dishwasher, the doorbell rang. Finn yelled that he had it, and Kurt heard him answering the door, and hoped that it wasn't carollers. Kurt couldn't _stand_ carollers, apart from the religiousness of the holiday, they were the thing that annoyed him the most about Christmas. Okay, when they were _good_ they weren't that annoying, but some of them were _really_ bad, and wouldn't go away unless you gave them something. Sure, it was for charity, but did they have to be so _annoying_?

"Hey Mercedes, Tina." dropping the mug back into the sink, Kurt sprinted to the door when he heard Finn greet his friends.

"Kurt!" They both exclaimed, and he hugged his friends who wrapped up in lots of layers.

"Hey, it's good to see you." he didn't need to look at their faces for very long to know that he was about to be kidnapped and interrogated, mostly about Keats. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Dad, I'm going out with Mercedes and Tina!" he called, and moved to get his coat, and a scarf.

"Hey, can I come?" asked Finn, and he was shot venomous looks as the two girls folded their arms and shook their heads.

"Sorry, Finn," said Kurt, stuffing his feet into some boots. "but this looks like some _serious_ girl-talk." Finn nodded, taking a couple of steps back.

"Oh, okay…" he shrugged.

"Also, Rachel will be there." Finn bolted into the living room at the mention of his ex, and Kurt rolled his eyes.

"You _need_ to fill me on _that_." he said as he made his way out of the house and towards Mercedes' car.

"Oh, we will." promised Mercedes.

"But first _we_ need more details on your boyfriend." Kurt didn't even bother rolling his eyes at Tina, knowing that this had been the whole point of it all.

"So, where are we going?"

"How does drinks at Breadstixs sound?" questioned Mercedes, and Kurt just nodded, and privately thinking that the New Directions should just declare that their official second home and have done with it. He was _sure_ that Santana would _live_ there if she could, and, okay, the food was _good_, but it wasn't _that_ good.

"So, is it all the girls?"

"Well, not _Lauren_…" said Mercedes, rolling her eyes, and Tina just shook her head.

"I get that we're not exactly the club that everyone wants to be, but I still think he could have found someone _better_ than Lauren." Kurt arched an eyebrow.

"Bad singer?" They both shrugged.

"We wouldn't know - there was no time for an audition." Kurt's eyebrow raised itself higher. They'd replaced him with someone, and they _didn't even know if they could sing_! They must have been _seriously_ desperate. It was especially weird as he hadn't even beena full member of Dalton Academy at the time.

"That's a bit…" he couldn't quite find the word he wanted, and the two girls nodded.

"Yeah, we know, but we were _desperate_." Kurt snorted, and sat back in his seat. He'd known they were desperate, he had heard the story last time he was here after all, but he had assumed that they'd just left out the part where she auditioned because it wasn't as interesting as the rest of the tale. Though, now that he thought about it Puck, Matt and Mike hadn't auditioned either, but Puck had proven himself a decent singer - and Mike, and Matt, were good dancers.

Kurt didn't know why, but the inane chatter about what was going on about McKinley was soothing for him, and it gave him time to collect his thoughts about what he wanted to tell them about Keats. He had no doubts that Santana and Mercedes would stop at nothing to extract all details from him, but Kurt was hesitant to say that he and Keats had never exactly _talked_ about their relationship, or gone on any kind of date.

It was his life, and he didn't have to tell them anything, but Kurt feared what Santana had learnt in Lima Heights, like any sane person would, and he was absolutely certain that she would take great pleasure in torturing him for information. He vaguely wondered whether Santana had ever called Nick back after he gave her his number. He certainly wouldn't have put it past either of them to go and hook-up, not after what he'd learnt about Sebastian and Nick, something that still made him shudder for some reason. He guessed he just didn't like thinking about that kind of thing _anyway_, but it just seemed kind of wrong.

He guessed it was the lack of feelings involved that disturbed him. The way they could just sleep together and then just be friends afterwards. It was like it didn't matter that they'd had sex. Wasn't there some sort of, Kurt didn't know, _bond_ between them after an event like that? Or maybe that was just Kurt romanticising the whole thing. Especially as it had been Nick's first time - or so it had sounded like. Kurt didn't want his first time to be a throw away occasion, it was _special_, _meaningful_…It was about trusting someone, or so he always thought it was meant to be.

He didn't quite like thinking about these kind of things, and so he let his mind wander. Unfortunately it landed on Keats and his father. His promise to go to Vince's was not as reassuring as he knew it was meant to be. Mainly because the fact that Vince had mentioned that his father didn't care about him had stuck in his mind, and that just made him uneasy. He didn't know whether that meant he was to think that, maybe, that meant he wasn't around so that he couldn't be there to get angry at Keats, or whether it was some thing else…like he didn't care _for_ Vince, if that even made sense.

"Oi, lover boy!" Kurt stared and looked around. He saw the two girls smirking, evilly, at him and then noticed that they'd made it to Breadstixs.

"Oh," he said, unbuckling his seatbelt and stretching. "that was quick."

"Something on your mind?" teased Mercedes, and Kurt glowered at her, not about to give her the satisfaction of saying that he'd been incredibly preoccupied by thoughts - or worries - about Keats.

"I don't know _what_ you're talking about." he said, swinging the car door shut behind him, and flicking the end of one of his other scarves over his shoulder. Tina eyed it.

"You're not wearing Blaine's." she said, looking a little surprised. Kurt shrugged, not thinking that it was a noteworthy thing. Mercedes raised an eyebrow. Kurt just hooked his arms between theirs, and steered them towards the entrance.

"Blaine's scarf is nice and all, but I do like some of my own, you know."

"Sure, and it has _nothing_ to do with the fact that you are "_moving on_" from him." Kurt glared at Mercedes as Tina informed the waitress of their reservation, and shook his head.

"Look, 'Cedes, I meant what I said," he said in a quiet voice as they followed Tina to their table. "I just need time to move on; I don't understand why you keep bringing it up. It's _over_, not that there was anything happening in the first place." Mercedes turned to face him full on, hands on her hips.

"I won't let it go because you deserve him, white boy. You deserve to have the person you love, not the person that you're just "_happy_" with." Kurt sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Mercedes, I _never_ get what I want. I never get what I deserve, and it's _always_ because of who I am. I thought that might chance at Dalton, but it's not about what _school_ I'm at, it's about _life_." Mercedes frowned at him, looking confused.

"What are you talking about?" Kurt sighed, and let his posture slacken.

"That there are always jerks, and Neanderthals in the world; even at Dalton." Mercedes narrowed her eyes.

"You talking about that Sebastian guy, right?" Kurt shrugged.

"Something he said…" he muttered, and Mercedes began to give him an increasingly bitchy face. Kurt just let out another sigh. "He said that…he said that Blaine like him because he was insecure and Sebastian wasn't, and he said that's why he'd never like me because _I'm_ insecure." Mercedes just stared at him for a moment.

"Does this guy know you _at all_?" she demanded, and Kurt considered the question for a second before shaking his head.

"No, course not."

"Then why the hell do you listen to him?" Kurt paused, trying to put into words how he felt about the whole situation.

"I don't know Mercedes, it's just…sometimes…" he sighed. "Sometimes you just start believing that nothing good's ever going to happen. I mean, I'd never met another out-of-the-closet gay guy until I came to Dalton, but I only went there because I had my life threatened…it's like-" he broke off, frowning and swallowing. "like-" he faltered, and looked into her concerned face. "some of the time I wish I was back at McKinley."

There was a long pause in which Mercedes eyed him up and down in disbelief, and Kurt knew that he sounded crazy because Dalton was everything he ever wanted, but…It was just _infuriating_ to be at school that was so…_secretive_. Everybody at Dalton had some sort of secret, or back-story, and it was tiring him out to think about. Kurt didn't have anything to hide, not really, because Blaine knew what had happened with Karofsky.

"Man, did they put on crazy pills or something?" demanded Mercedes, staring at him incredulously. "You better put your head together, Kurt. Why the _hell_ would you want to be at McKinley, it sucks, everyone knows that! Everyone at McKinley is a Lima Loser, at Dalton you're rubbing shoulders with the greats! Man you should have _heard_ Rachel when she found out you knew Rosanne Watters' step-son!" Kurt laughed at that, imagining an outpouring of jealousy that she hadn't been able to do in public, and turned with Mercedes to where Tina was sitting.

"Thanks Mercedes, sometimes I think the boys there are driving me crazy!" Mercedes rolled her eyes, and slid onto her seat.

"Now, what good would they be if they didn't?" Kurt laughed, and Tina looked between them in confusion.

"I just got a text from Santana," she said. "Her and Britt are a couple of minutes away, and, be warned Kurt, she wants to know _everything_ about this Keats of yours." Kurt had expected nothing less, and so waited patiently for the two cheerleaders to arrive.

Brittany hugged him enthusiastically, and Kurt hugged her back tightly before she jumped up and down in excitement over Christmas, and told Kurt all about meeting Santa and Artie being able to walk. Kurt looked at Tina and Mercedes in surprise and Tina mouthed "_they broke_" at him from behind Brittany's back. Kurt nodded in understanding and slipped into his seat as Santana fixed an intent stare on him and Quinn came in the door. She smiled, brightly, at Kurt and sat down next to Santana, the promise ring glinting on her finger.

"Hey Kurt," she said, tugging a scarf from around her neck. "how was your concert and your solo?" Kurt smiled at her for remembering as the other girls "_ohhed_" and crowed in as they remembered that.

"I'll tell you in a sec, where's Rachel?"

"She should be coming." said Tina checking her phone. "She might just be stuck in traffic or something." Mercedes opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a waitress asking them to order their drinks. They placed their orders quickly and then Mercedes, with an overdramatic sigh, said what she'd wanted to originally;

"Or, maybe, God willing, she discovered the fact that holidays allow you to have _lie-ins_." They all rolled her eyes as Mercedes rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I am fully aware that you're allowed to lie-in in the holidays," came the crisp, clear, voice of Rachel Berry from the foot of their table. "but that would waste precious hours in the day, not to mention messing up my carefully structured routine." There were eye rolls from around the table as Kurt stood back up to hug Rachel. She smiled, brightly, at Kurt as they sat back down. "How was your solo?" she asked primly and Kurt beamed.

"Not to blow my own horn or anything, but I sounded _amazing_." There were snorts and sniggers from the girls, and Santana rolled her eyes. "I mean, don't get me wrong, it was pretty disconcerting at first because there was _complete_ silence. No accompaniment or back-up, just my voice in this _big_ church, but once you get used to it just _rings_…" he smiled at the memory. "and then the organ comes pounding in, and the whole place is filled with song…I have _no idea_ how Vince managed to sleep through it."

"Vince?" questioned Tina, frowning in confusion at the unfamiliar name. Kurt rolled his eyes, sighing, and loosing track of who the New Directions had met - or had heard of at least. The drinks were quickly delivered to the table and then Kurt told them who Vince was;

"He's Keats' best friend." Everybody's eyes brightened at the mention of Keats, and Kurt mentally kicked himself for steering the topic of conversation onto him.

"Oh, you're on good terms with his best friends are you?" Kurt rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

"I've known Vince for just as long as I've known Keats." The girls all looked at each other, and Kurt sighed. "You want the _whole_ story, don't you?" They all nodded as one. Kurt rolled his eyes. "I met Keats, and his friends, in Social Studies - they're all in my class - on the day of Sectionals. I didn't really know anyone and so Keats invited me to have lunch. We were just friends, but I think…" Kurt trailed off. "I thought for quite a long time that, maybe, he liked me, but then…" he trailed off. "You were all at the concert, you saw Sebastian singing to him."

"What was that about?" asked Rachel curiously, and Kurt bit down on his lip.

"Well, I'm not one hundred per cent clear on the details but…" he drew out the word for dramatic effect, taking pleasure in the way they all leaned in to hear the next bit of gossip. "I think it had a lot to do with the fact that the whole fight that was going on was, sort of, happening over Sebastian." There were some confused frowns.

"What do you mean "_sort of_" happening over Sebastian?" demanded Mercedes, eventually. "Either they were fighting over him or they weren't, simple as." Kurt shook his head.

"No, not quite. Keats knew exactly what was going on, but Blaine was clueless. Seeing as neither of them were actually _dating_ at him at the time, but what happened - _I think_ because no one has told me really happened…well, they told me this, but they haven't explained _everything_ - is that Sebastian and Keats had, um, slept together."

"_What_?" came the general explosion from the table. Everyone, except for Brittany who was nonchalantly sucking on the straw of her drink, gaped at him as if they were sure that he was lying.

"You're _joking_?" said Quinn, eyes wide and disbelieving. Kurt shook his head.

"Wanky," muttered Santana, and Kurt scowled at her, before answering Quinn's question.

"Nope, Sebastian said so," Tina frowned at him.

"How do you know he's not lying?" Kurt sighed, looking at his hands clasped hands on the table. He looked back at the girls with a small smile.

"In the short; I was walking down a corridor with all my books and Keats came running after me. I don't know what he wanted, but someone clucked, and-"

"Wait, _sorry_? Did you say that someone "_clucked_", like a chicken?" Kurt nodded at Rachel's confused face.

"Yeah, basically, what they'd done was hang bunches of mistletoe in door frame and if two people stood under it and they didn't seem to notice it was everyone else's job to cluck - 'cause if they didn't kiss they were chickens - and tell them to kiss." There were nods of understanding. "Anyway, there were these two Freshmen standing there. I think they knew about Charles so they looked very awkward and they ran away…" he broke off, blushing.

"Anyway," he said, trying not to be unnerved by the slightly predatory glints in their eyes. "we had a little conversation about how I wasn't sure how I felt and stuff…and then we kissed…but it was over quickly," he added, before anyone could jump in and interrupt him. "'cause Blaine and my other friends turned up and they kind of shocked, and Blaine was…a little bit…_hurt_, I think." They're eyes widened and Santana winked, suggestively at him whilst the other girls gained excited grins.

"So you're "_just friends_" and _that's_ why he's hurt by you kissing someone else," Kurt rolled his eyes because they just didn't seem to be getting it.

"It wasn't that I was kissing _someone_, it was that I was kissing _Keats_." There were frowns. "Like I said, they had a fight and all that…_tension_, it hasn't gone away…Anyway, I lost my temper a little bit and I told him that I could kiss whoever I wanted, and that-" Kurt broke off, feeling a little ashamed of himself. "I said that I thought that everything that had happened was _his_ fault."

"Was it?" questioned Rachel and Kurt shook his head.

"No, I don't think so…I said that because Keats had been, kind of, willing to talk about it, but Blaine… He just shuts it straight down, he _won't_ tell me anything, except…" Kurt cut himself off, rolling his eyes, realising that he was getting ahead of himself.

"Except _what_?"

"Let me tell you this in chronological order, okay, 'cause I'm getting confused. Blaine got angry over what I said, about it being his fault, and he lunged at Keats and, luckily, Sebastian came round the corner 'cause I think Blaine was going to punch him, and then he'd be _expelled_…" he paused and took a sip of his drink. "And Sebastian found out what happened, and he was questioning Keats and Keats got really fired up about the insinuation that he'd forced himself onto me, but then Luc came before anything got out of hand. Thad told him what happened and it was him that let on that Keats had kissed Sebastian, and then Sebastian said it was more and _that's_ how I found out, and I know he wasn't lying because Luc said he wasn't going to tell me that."

"Wait!" said Mercedes holding up her hand. "How does your music teacher know that? I mean, it's not like Keats is a Warbler." Kurt shrugged.

"I guess, because Blaine and Sebastian are Warblers, it's the same way that Mr Schue knows about Quinn and Puck last year," Quinn rolled her eyes. "and Finn and Santana." Rachel shifted uncomfortably. "Plus this fight was _huge_, I think people got _really_ hurt…I think the whole _school_ knows." he sighed and shrugged. "Either way Keats walked away and I had a little talk with Luc about my solo before going to cheerleading practise. I told Elise what had happened and she said that if Keats _really_ likes me then she thought that it might be the first step to smoothing things over."

"Why?" Kurt shrugged.

"I think because of Keats liking Sebastian, or something of the sort. She said that David was crying at the end it was so bad, and that _everyone_ knew about Keats and Sebastian. She told me that no one talks about it and only Trinity tried and fix it after what happened to Fred and Andy, and _no_, I don't know what happened there. It was _bad_ though, but…She told me that nothing was going to happen to me because I had Trinity on my side."

"Sorry," said Quinn, blinking and looking confused. "what is "_Trinity_"? I mean, you're not talking about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, are you?" Kurt blinked at her then shook his head.

"No, it's just these three guys in my year who are really odd…but they're nice to me and stuff… It doesn't really matter, but she told me she couldn't tell me because she promised." Kurt broke off, deciding not to mention Charles' sister because that was a whole different story. "So, when I got back to Dalton I ran into Trinity and we had this really brief conversation about Keats, but then _he_ turned up and they ran off. He told me that what happened with Sebastian was a mistake and that he'd thought Sebastian liked him and it happened right at the end of term so there wasn't much time to talk and when they got back Blaine was here and Sebastian was looking after him and liked him, and he looked really sad so I kissed him…"

There were excited squeals from the girls and Mercedes gave him an evil eye, clearly annoyed that he hadn't given her the story in this level of detail when he'd phoned her to tell her about them being boyfriends, but Kurt had just been so excited about actually having a boyfriend at the time to bother with all the little details.

"It's really not _that_ exciting," he said, rolling his eyes. "we kissed again and then his friends turned up and then I asked him to come with me to my house to see dad, and he said that that was okay as long as I _never_ met his dad."

"Why?" Kurt rolled his eyes, holding up a hand.

"Just let me tell the story," he said. "_without interrupting_." he added, glaring at them. "So, we went to my house and we kissed on the doorstep so that's how Finn found out, but he took it really well, considering, and he said he wanted to threaten him because he was my "_older brother_"-" Kurt rolled his eyes and made quotation marks in the air. "-and then dad came back and Keats asked him whether he could go out with me and it took a little bit of reassuring, but dad was fine with it, and Keats explained that his dad threw him around when he came out and his mum did nothing."

There was a sad moment of quiet around the table as Kurt took a deep breath, trying to not let his imagination wonder to that moment in the Powers household when Keats' father had grabbed his son and thrown him around whilst his mother did nothing.

"Kurt?" Rachel touched his arm. "Are you okay?" Kurt smiled up at them.

"Yeah, just makes me remember that I'm really lucky to have my dad," he swallowed, shaking his head. "Keats _nearly_ messed it up by _telling_ my family, accidentally, about him and Sebastian," there were long groans at that, each one imagining Kurt's pain in that moment. "but he managed to smooth it over by saying he didn't want to do it again. Said he hadn't been ready."

"Wait, Sebastian _forced_ him?" Kurt sighed and shook his head.

"No, I _don't_ think so…Keats said he hadn't, but it sounded like he didn't realise till _after_ that he maybe wasn't okay with it."

"Did Finn hear all of that?" asked Mercedes curiously. Kurt nodded.

"Yeah, why?" Mercedes just arched an eyebrow and shot him an amused grin. "What?"

"You should have more faith in your step-brother," she said, and Kurt just frowned at her until he understood.

"Ohhh," he said, nodding. "I guess I was wrong, can keep a secret that big."

"Yes, we all knew _that_," spat Rachel and Kurt and the other girls rolled their eyes as one.

"Sooo, I went back to Dalton and I went to talk to Blaine. I told him we were official and he seemed kind of upset, but," he continued, making sure that they didn't interrupt him. "I said that I knew they weren't friends and just asked him to turn down the murder-vibes around me…Then he said that Keats "_betrayed_" him and that he did "_some things_" to him, but he wasn't specific, he said he didn't want to put me off him because I deserved to be happy. Then we made a deal that I'd tell him if "_anything_" happened as long as he didn't flip out and get expelled. Then he said he didn't start it and that he didn't know what was going on blah blah blah…and I asked him how it felt when he found out about Keats and Sebastian, and he said it didn't really bother him because _Nick_ and Sebastian had slept together."

"I don't blame him," interrupted Santana whilst the other girls raised their eyebrows in shocked surprise. "That guy has one _hot_ body and he's-" Kurt held up a hand.

"Santana, _please_, whatever the two of you have gotten up to, keep it to yourselves, alright? I do _not_ need anymore emotionally scarring images." Santana rolled her eyes, sipping her drink with seductive eyes whilst Kurt just shook his head and looked away.

"Then we were interrupted by the guys starting a snowball fight, and that's about it, really. We didn't have time to go out with exams and my _crazy_ practise schedule, but it's okay. I think what happened to Blaine was really bad because Daniel - one of the Trinity guys - said that Blaine had had a really good term and Juri said that Blaine was terrified during the Autumn term last year and when I asked he got really angry and said that he never wanted to talk about it before storming away…" Kurt shrugged. "I kissed Keats goodbye and then my term ended." he shrugged again.

"It sounds like there's a lot of drama," said Rachel after a long pause. "You'd think, with it being all boys and all, that there might be less." Kurt snorted, shaking his head.

"Nope, Dalton seems to have a thriving homosexual population that don't have a problem causing lots of drama." he grinned.

"So, anymore gossip?" Kurt considered the question before deciding that he might as well tell them about Charles' sister.

"Well, Charles has a sister there, and it sounds like they come from a _really_ messed up family…" with that intriguing sentence Kurt was off, explaining all that Elise had told him.

_Oh god, I have missed gossiping with the girls. I can't really do this with any of the guys at Dalton - Elise is really the only person I've found who's like that - but I **need** my regular dosage of gossip otherwise I'll end up crazier than Trinity…and that would be **quite** the achievement…._

* * *

Blaine rubbed his eyes as he made his way down the stairs of their large, suburban, house. His father had originally bought the house to make the transition the boys had to make between Ohio and Chicago easier; a surprisingly kind gesture that proved that - if you conformed to his understanding of normality - he could be a perfectly loving father. However, after the arrival of Emily, and then Anna and Meg, it had become home, as opposed to the prison that Cooper saw.

Blaine yawned widely as he lurched to his seat at the circular breakfast table. There was no rule that governed who sat where, but at the same time no one bothered to disturb the routine that Elliot Anderson had accustomed himself to.

"Tired?" asked Emily, a little redundantly as Blaine could barely nod in agreement. She sighed, patting his curls and pouring him coffee.

"Wasn't a fun road trip." he grumbled thickly, and Anna giggled at him from behind the cereal box. Blaine attempted to give her a glare, but his eyes were too crusted up with sleep for it to be affective.

"Your brother left yesterday," said Emily in a slightly constricted voice. "apparently his friends in New York City are more important than us." Blaine didn't even bother sighing; he hadn't expected anything _less_ from his childish older sibling. He knew that, from Emily's tense posture, she also knew that there was no coincidence between Cooper leaving as Blaine arrived.

"Sorry," he mumbled out, and Emily shook her head.

"It's not your fault sweetheart," but Blaine could hear the missing phrase at the end. The "_but you shouldn't have said what you did_" that Emily didn't add because she was too nice, and Anna was present. Instead she gave him some toast, and Blaine bit into it enthusiastically. Emily shook her head at the way his eyes brightened as he alternated between eating and drinking, and Anna watched him with inquisitive eyes. Blaine knew some form of interrogation was coming - Anna was remarkably manipulative for an eight year old - and Emily seemed to have noticed too as she sat down whilst giving him a sympathetic look.

Luckily for Blaine's brain, Anna had the decency to let him finish two caffeinated drinks before beginning her questioning.

"Blaine," she began in a hushed voice. "what you shouted at daddy, was it true?" Blaine felt his heart clench, and he looked at Emily for support, an unhappy look crossing her features. He desperately communicated with her using his eyes

"_What do I say?_" he demanded frantically, and she gave the unhelpful response of "_I don't know_" by shrugging.

Blaine and Emily had never come up with a definitive plan of what to tell Anna and Meg when they reached the inquisitive yet innocent age that Anna had now attained. Blaine had no plans of turning the girls against dad - an ass he could be, but deep beneath the layers of anger, disgust, frustration and hurt, Blaine knew his dad had the power to be a good father, especially to Anna and Meg. No, Blaine couldn't ruin their father to her, but at the same time Blaine couldn't just _lie_ to her…she'd _never_ forgive him…

"Blaine?" Anna was looking in hurt-confusion at her half-brother who appeared to be ignoring her.

"Sorry Anna," he said, faking a smile. "it's just not as easy to answer as you might think." Anna frowned at him in confusion.

"But it's the _truth_." she argued simply, with a deep frown. "Surely one of you is right, and the other is wrong?" Blaine chuckled, darkly, shaking his head.

"No, it's more complicated than that."

"How?" Blaine glanced at Emily, seeking approval before continuing. Emily nodded, giving him a reassuring smile. He returned it with the faintest flicker of the right corner of his mouth.

"Well," he said, turning back to Anna. "it's like this…" he paused, and searched for a simple analogy. Emily cleared her throat, drawing Blaine's attention to her, and gestured her head between Anna and the empty seat next to her. Blaine felt a grin creep onto his face and shot her a silent "_thanks_". "remember when you and Meg had that _bad_ fight?" Anna nodded.

"Yeah, mummy almost _grounded_ me!" Blaine nodded, still smiling a little.

"That's right, and you remember that you said that you hated her?" Anna nodded, looking truly ashamed.

"Yes."

"Well, you _know_ that's a lie, but in that moment it felt true." Anna nodded again, this time slowly in comprehension.

"So, daddy _does_ love you!" she squealed excitedly. Blaine sighed, lowering his head. Anna was old enough to know that the constant bickering was a bad thing, and what it was about, but was too young to understand why.

"Anna," said Emily in a low voice, taking in Blaine's suddenly haggard face. "I think that's enough questions. Why don't we take something up for Meg?" Anna obediently hopped up. Emily patted his back as Blaine groaned and sunk his head against the table.

Damn life! It was a whole lot more complicated than that, and he reckoned that Anna knew that, but that, right now, she was just a scared kid wanting her family to stay together, and, well, Blaine _could _empathise. He'd been like that - both him _and_ Cooper in fact - when Emily had first appeared in their lives. He'd been desperately waiting for their mother to come back with only the scarf, a fragment of melody and a story to remember her love. He never really thought about her now, but something in what Anna had said had come as a sharp reminder.

To Meg, Blaine was her brother and dad was her dad; simple. To Anna, Blaine was her _half_-brother and dad was her dad; not quite so simple. What it really meant, though, was that their dad ranked above Blaine in Anna's family, and, therefore, Blaine was more likely to be at fault than dad.

"Blaine," Emily was back in the kitchen, sitting down next to him.

"How's Meg?" he asked, raising his head from the table.

"She's fast asleep, poor thing, and she's still pretty hot." Blaine nodded, and then lapsed into an awkward silence.

"Emily, I-"

"Look, Blaine-" They grinned at each other, and Blaine sighed.

"Why do I get the impression that you're going to use your authority as an adult to speak first?" Emily gasped in mock hurt before chuckling.

"You're right, I am, but I really just wanted to thank you." Blaine frowned at her.

"Why?" Emily sighed.

"Because Anna's a smart kid, and she knows that there's more, but you gave her piece of mind. Anna's a worrier, we both know that, and the last thing she needs is to be stressing over our family situation." Blaine shrugged.

"I don't want Anna mad at dad." he explained, addressing the unspoken part of the conversation; why Blaine chose to say what he did over a whole host of more honest things.

"I see…" said Emily, but there was still a questioning tone to her voice.

"I just- I _know_ that dad loves them, and I don't want her to doubt that. When I-" his throat closed over, and he swallowed heavily.

"I know what you're going to say." murmured Emily, and Blaine sighed in relief. The attempted suicide was a difficult topic to discuss in their house, but Emily always seemed to know when he was trying to talk about it. She had moved her hands to encase his, and he took a moment to collect himself.

"I just- one of the things that pushed me over the edge was feeling that I had no family. Dad was mad at me, Cooper was away, Anna and Meg were too young to understand, and you were so busy trying to keep it all together that I just felt so alone…I _never_ want them to feel like that so I guess I just want them to have a good relationship with everyone. To always know that there's someone else out there for them to go to." Emily got to her feet, soft smile in place and kissed his curls.

"You're such a good kid, Blaine," she said, and Blaine smiled up at her.

"Thank you."

"That's a simple truth." she said with a grin that Blaine returned. "Now, go get a shower, honey, and make sure Anna gets one too." Blaine gave her a salute.

"Yes ma'am." Emily laughed, and shook her head at his antics. Blaine, smile in place, left the room and climbed the stairs, moving quietly along to Meg's room. He opened the door, and saw Anna mopping her brow.

"I don't think she's _that_ sick." he commented and Anna shrugged.

"She said she felt ill…I shouldn't have made her play in the snow." Blaine shook his head, and walked over to her side, and lifted her up.

"It's not your fault," he said as she shrieked and kicked her legs.

"Put me down!" she exclaimed, and Blaine just carried her out of the room.

"Shower, now, little girl."

"I'm not little!" she said indignantly, kicking his shins. Blaine continued to laugh at her, though, as he put down his little sister. It was true that she wasn't that little - reaching his chest - but he loved teasing her about it.

"Just go get showered, and then come to my room." he said, pushing her towards her room. When he was sure that she was going to actually shower, he proceeded back down the hall into his room. They all had en-suite bathrooms, and Blaine flipped on the shower, and pulled a fluffy bathmat from the rail, and laid it on the floor.

The room began to fill with steam as Blaine pulled off his sweaty pyjamas, and stepped into the shower. Just like always the warm water combined with a talk with Emily calmed him down, and reassured him that his extended family _really_ cared. He felt the water wash over him, and resolved to spend every day - except the two he was going to Garth's - with Anna and his family.

Anna had been _really_ upset when he had said he'd had to go away in the summer, but there had been absolutely no way that Blaine could say no to going to Barcelona… Barcelona. He _had_ had to go after what had happened, but he'd also promised that he'd teach Anna to play the guitar, which never happened. He didn't exactly regret his decision; that month and a half in Spain had been one of the best of his _life_ and Daley had been so happy Blaine had actually wondered whether he was on _drugs_ (he wasn't thank god), but Anna had been _really_ pissed off, and she hadn't quite forgiven him either. Then again, she might still have been fuming from Christmas that year when he'd spent approximately _four days_ at home - including when he'd gone to see Garth - and the rest at Dalton.

He opened the door to his room, and he almost dropped the towel that was wrapped around his waist. Anna was standing there, somehow already dressed in jeans and a woolly turtleneck jumper that Blaine was sure had once been his. Her hair was soaked and messy. She raised he eyebrows at his nakedness, and the blush now on his face.

"Err, could you turn around? Dad'd _kill_ me if I emotionally traumatised you, again." Anna rolled her eyes, but obediently turned away. Blaine yanked on his pants as quickly as he could, and pulled a blue polo neck over his still slightly wet muscles. "You can turn around now." he called as he searched for a pair of thick socks. "What do you want to do?" he asked. Anna frowned at him.

"What do you mean?" she asked, sitting down on the bed and curling up her legs.

"Well, we are hanging out together this holiday." Anna frowned at him some more.

"That's what you said in the summer." she said with a pout. Blaine sighed, both at her tone of voice and his inability to find some socks (if Cooper had taken them Blaine would _kill_ him) and sat down on the bed, and leaned against the large pillows.

"Look, I know you don't get why I had to go to Barcelona, but when you get a little older - so I won't get murdered by our parents - I'll tell you everything." Anna looked up at him, judging the truth of his words.

"You mean it? We can hang out?" Blaine nodded.

"Sure, every day, except when I got to see Garth." Anna nodded in understanding.

"Of course." Blaine smiled down at her.

"So…what do you want to do first?" Anna shuffled around, and then pulled a comb from up her sleeve. Blaine snorted as she waggled it in front of his face. Blaine took it and began to brush out her tangled hair.

"Will you plait it?" she asked, and Blaine nodded and "_mmhmmed_" in agreement. "and will you sing a Christmas song?"

"Of course, got any particular preferences?" Anna shrugged.

"I don't know…something happy."

"Something happy…" pondered Blaine, still pulling the comb through her hair and frowning. Of late, Blaine had found Christmas a depressing time, and suddenly found that he couldn't quite thing of a cheerful song.

"_Blaine_…" whinged Anna, not doubt because the water was dribbling down the neck, and Anna wasn't the most patient of people at the best of times.

"Okay, okay, I have a song, and try and sit _still_." Anna huffed, and rolled her eyes, but waited, almost patiently, for Blaine to start.

_Rocking around the Christmas Tree_

_At the Christmas party hop_

He was so used to singing with some form of accompaniment, be it himself on the piano or guitar, or the whole of the Warblers, that his voice sounded very strange on it's own, and he had to try much harder to stay in tune at the beginning.

_Mistletoe hung where you can see_

_Ev'ry couple tries to stop_

There was also a distinct lack of pulse that made the whole song sound a little flat, not quite the cheerful thing he was meant to be singing, and he tried to inject a lilt to the way he sung.

_Rocking around the Christmas Tree_

_Let the Christmas Spirit ring_

_Later we'll have some pumpkin pie_

_And we'll do some carolling_

Anna began to clap along, and he heard Emily's footsteps pause to listen to him sing, and he found himself beginning to relax. Coming home was always a stressful thing; the nine hour drive, and then the family tension, but there was the possibility to be joyous - if he worked just a little bit harder.

_You will get a sentimental feeling_

_When you hear voices singing_

_"Let's be jolly; Deck the halls with boughs of holly"_

He raised his voice higher than he had previously, letting it sound through their overly quiet house, and remind them that Christmas, a time of joy, was actually on it's way. It wasn't particularly _easy_ to be joyous in their house - it seemed to remind their father of the original meaning of the word "_gay_" - but Emily loved to decorate the house, and for Meg and Anna it was very much about getting presents, and food, and snow, and the tree.

It was all fun and games for them, but for Blaine it was about how he couldn't go to Church anymore because the congregation had turned on him, and last year he'd had to climb out of the window and run to Reverend Arnold's house to begin to feel some sort of forgiveness. Blaine hadn't mentioned it to Kurt, mainly because it just wasn't the kind of thing he'd told _anyone_ - only Sebastian knew - but Blaine considered the fact that he'd tried to commit suicide a sin.

He wasn't overly religious, and - mainly because of Reverend Arnold - he didn't consider the fact that he was gay a sin, but he did believe in God and that what must happen happens. He didn't really _tell_ people because they kind of found it weird, and, again, only Sebastian knew that the last thing that Blaine had done before he'd taken the pills was pray, and he hoped to keep it that way.

So, he kept on singing, and let his hands fall into a regular pattern as he weaved the stands of his sister's hair together, and he did what he did best - even better than his brother, Cooper, who got _paid_ to do it - _acted_.

_You will get a sentimental feeling_

_When you hear voices singing_

_"Let's be jolly; Deck the halls with boughs of holly"_

Anna joined in for the last line. Her voice naturally merry, and, though she wasn't as talented as either of her brothers, she still had a good voice.

_Rocking around the Christmas Tree_

_Have a happy holiday_

_Everyone's dancing merrily_

_In a new old fashioned way_

They finished the song together, Blaine tying the end of her plait with a hair band that had been wound around the handle of the comb, and had flicked it into her face, causing her to swat at the air around her in an annoyed fashion. Blaine had his chin resting on her small shoulder, and Anna was laughing ever so slightly.

It was a completely peaceful moment. Anna was leaning back into his chest, and Blaine wrapped his arms around her. They were all affectionate children, but Blaine more so than the others because when he'd needed the most comfort - after mum had left - no one had bothered to hug him; that was why he'd slept with his mother's scarf.

"_Blaine Anderson_!" the calm was shattered by the angry cry of their father, and Blaine felt his spine straighten in horror. He'd thought he was _at work_! _Why was he at home_?

"Dad!" he exclaimed, as Elliot Anderson stormed into the room looking furious. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you at work?"

"In case you hadn't noticed your _sister_ is _sick_!" Blaine blinked; his dad had stayed home for Meg? A surge of jealousy crept through him at that thought - his dad had _never_ stayed with Blaine at home, even their first winter when Blaine had had to go to _hospital_ because he had pneumonia.

"I know." he said, as calmly as he could, forcing down the pointless emotions that were running through him.

"Then you should know to _keep it down_! She needs to _sleep off_ the fever, and she can't do that with you _screeching_ away!" Blaine swallowed, hands balling into fists.

"I wasn't "_screeching_" as you said, _dad_." he retorted, sliding off the bed, and coming to stare up at his father. "I was _singing_, because Anna asked me to." There was a pause as everyone waited for Anna to speak.

"I did." she piped up, looking nervously between them. "I asked for him to sing something cheerful to me whilst he did my hair." Blaine wanted to sink his head into his hand. Anna may have gotten him out of the frying pan, but she'd just thrown him straight into the fire with her comment about the hair dressing.

"Blaine, my office, _now_." Blaine sighed, and rolled his eyes. He turned to Anna as his dad stomped away. Anna bit her lip.

"Sorry," she apologised. Blaine shrugged, and then shook his head.

"You go find something you want to do, and I'll see you in a minute." he gave her a small smile, and, as he turned away, muttered to himself; "if I ever make it out alive."

Blaine made his way up the stairs that led to the loft that contained his father's study, and his parents' bedroom. He knocked on the door, even though he was expected, because years of yelling had taught him _never_ to enter until his dad said he could.

"Come in." his father called, and Blaine opened the door, entered the room, closed the door, and sat down in one of the chairs that his dad had placed in front of his desk. "Blaine," he said, fixing him with an intent stare. "we need to talk," Blaine nodded, because _God_, _that_ was an understatement. "about your future." Blaine blinked in shock.

"Err…_what_?" his father sighed, placing his clasped hands on the desk, and giving his son a piercing stare.

"Blaine, you're part way through your penultimate year, you need to think about college, _properly_. I _will not_ allow you to waste your future like Cooper, and I _will not_ allow you to disgrace us again." Blaine swallowed, not really sure what to say to his father.

"Um…okay…" his father shook his head, clearly frustrated with how slow his son was being.

"You need to stop messing around, Blaine, and you _need_ to stop dreaming." And _that_ was when Blaine understood what his dad was getting at; he needed to stop being a Warbler, work harder at his academics and do some good in sport.

"Dad, look…"

"No, Blaine, I've listened to your excuses-" _Lie_, went Blaine's mind because his dad never listened to him. "-and I've decided, after seeing you perform, that this singing, and _prancing_ has done nothing for academic work, or your performance on the sports pitch."

"But, the dancing has-"

"_Blaine_!" Blaine snapped his mouth shut at the raised tone of his voice. "You _will_ do as I say, and you will _be quiet_." Blaine nodded, mutely, feeling stupid. His father shook his head, frown on his face as if trying to regain his train of thought. "I have let your…_tendencies_ slide because it could garner you…_credit_, but what have you achieved?" Blaine didn't say anything, until he realised that, actually, his dad wanted him to talk now.

"Well, I'm a lead Warbler…we won Sec-"

"You _drew_ Sectionals." snapped his father. "You _drew_ against a _public school_." Blaine rolled his eyes, and his father slammed his fist down onto the table.

"_Do not_ roll your eyes at me, _Blaine_! I have _paid_ for your education because you weren't enough of a man to go back to your old school, and I was alright to do it because you had a _scholarship_ - and a merit based scholarship will look good on your applications - but now…" he let the sentence trail off ominously.

"I saw you at that concert, you sung well - your mother would have been proud no doubt-" Blaine jerked his head up at the unexpected praise, and the mention of his mum. "-but I am _not_ your mother, Blaine, and I do not tolerate the kind of people you are associating with; the frivolous way of life will ruin you, and us." He got to his feet, and began to pace the sparsely decorated office. Blaine followed him with wide eyes, and a fiercely beating heart.

"You know, I'm getting less and less business now that people know my son is advertising "_credit _" by _singing_…it's not what people expect of me; they think that I dance around and sing, and that's not what they want - not what they _need_." He turned his firm eyes on his son. "Your head is filled with nonsense, Blaine, and you can't _be_ what you want! You have to be what is _needed_, and I need a _son_ - a _man_. Your brother, whilst he'll no doubt sire a herd of prancing children, is a lost cause. Pull yourself together, _win something_, or you'll find yourself back at your old high school for your senior year, you're dismissed."

Blaine stared at his father, horror seeping through his body uncontrollably, before he bolted to his feet and dashed back down the stairs. He ignored Anna, who was down stairs in the living room, and dashed straight into his bathroom, snatching up his iPod as he went. He slammed the door shut, and locked it. He sat down on the toilet, crossing his legs, jamming the headphones into his hears. He clicked onto one of his play lists, and turned the volume up as loud as it would go as the opening to _All Fall Down_ began to play.

He had thought that, maybe, the solo and the concert would have changed things, but Blaine had just made things worse. He had thought that his dad might be more open minded when he saw Blaine ranged amongst such talent, but he wasn't Now, unless by some _miracle_ they won Regionals, he was going to be pulled out of Dalton…

The selfish part of Blaine that really meant _was_ his father's son wanted to blame Kurt for all of this. He _knew_ that it wasn't Kurt's fault - God only knew that Kurt had been through his own kind of hell, but Blaine hadn't realised how important that scholarship was until he'd lost it…

He didn't know what to do with himself. He was just doing what he was best at. He was doing the only thing that _might_ give him good "_credit_". His football - both kinds - were going well, he'd _started_ a fight club, he fenced…what more could his father ask for him? The _best hope_ that he had of winning lay in singing. Why couldn't he see that this was what made him happy?

But that was just _it_, Blaine didn't deserve to be happy. Blaine reckoned that if he had "_manned-up_" and taken the abuse he had at his old school his dad might have been slightly more accepting. It was about giving his father a "_legacy_" that he could be proud of. It was about Blaine being selfless, and doing what his father wanted - but Blaine's eyes had been _opened_. He'd experienced such _happiness_ at Dalton, and such acceptance, and such _hope_ that Blaine couldn't sacrifice. He could "_give up_" his scholarship, but he couldn't give up who he was.

Blaine bowed his head, remembering the tears in Daley's eyes when they sang _All Fall Down _to him. The silent promise that however low any of them sunk, the rest would be there to pull them back up;

_..."Never give up, Daley, okay? You have to promise me that you'll never give up because it all comes to an end, eventually…And this pain that you're feeling; it'll pass…I promise…"..._

That's what _Sebastian_ had said. Sebastian who could be _so _pessimistic that Blaine just wanted to _slap_ him. Blaine could call him. Blaine could talk to him. Sebastian would be there for him, but…

Maybe it wasn't his choice to make. Maybe he should listen to his father for a change. Blaine blocked him out - metaphorically stuck his fingers in his ears and went "_la la la_" - but maybe it was time to pay attention to the stuff in between the lines. He didn't have to _not_ be gay, but he didn't have to do what he wanted with his career. He _could_ be a lawyer; Sebastian would say that he was a pushover, but Blaine knew that he didn't have to be a barrister, he could be another kind. He _could_ do it…

He wiped his eyes, pulling out one of the ear buds, and taking a deep breath. He could get through this holiday. He could make it through the holidays. He could do this. He could do it because he'd had worse. He'd fallen all the way to the bottom, and he was climbing up…

* * *

_I thought, maybe because we're so close in school, that I'd hear from the other boys, but with the exception of Trinity, Keats and, occasionally, Juri, I haven't heard a thing from any of them. Blaine hasn't replied to my e-mail, and it's honestly depressing how no one else will. Juri's replies are sporadic, and Keats' are vague…It's like no one wants to talk to me now that we're out of Dalton… So, to distract myself from the depressing nature of all that, I've taken to decorating the house for Christmas, unfortunately I only have Finn for help…_

"Come on, Finn!" he said, attempting to string up some Christmas lights to the front of the house, but needed the height of his gigantor of a step-brother. He could hear Finn stomping around, and grumbling about tangles in the cables.

"Gimme a sec!" he called back, halfway into their house, and Kurt rolled his eyes, letting his tired arms drop down to his side, and the string of lights to flop into the soft snow that still coated Lima. He pulled the hat from his hair, and smoothed over his hair as he stepped back inside.

"What did you _do_ to them?" he demanded, noticing that Finn seemed to have managed to have become encased in the lights. Finn attempted to glare up at him, but ended up looking like he was somewhere between baffled and offended.

"_They_ attacked _me_!" he snapped back, pouting, and Kurt just laughed, picking his way past him towards the kitchen to get another cup of coffee.

"Yes," he said, refilling his cup, and shedding his outermost layers. "the inanimate objects ganged up on you, and took you out." Finn just continued to glare at him as he got to his feet, and shook off the Christmas lights as best he could.

"Give me a break." he said. "I lugged the tree all the way from the lot, my back _aches_." Kurt rolled his eyes, but was secretly glad that Finn hadn't asked for Kurt's help carrying the thing; he'd have gotten pine needles in his hair and all over his clothes.

"Well, I appreciate that, Finn, but not everyone can be as tall as you."

"I wish they were." he muttered in annoyance, and Kurt laughed, taking pity on him, and beginning to disentangle him from the lights. Finn stood still, with remarkable patience, and then leapt away from the lights a moment too soon. His feet were still entangled, and he smashed his face into the hallway floor. There was a tense silence.

"Finn?" asked Kurt, tentatively, face screwed up in a wince, and dropping the lights he was holding. He waited for the taller boy to groan, and, as Kurt was kneeling down in worry, he heard the delayed moan.

"Oww…" he said, rolling over, and Kurt saw that some blood was beginning to trickle from his nose. Rolling his eyes, he pulled the lights from Finn's feet, and helped him up. Several weeks of being Juri's roommate had taught Kurt a thing or two about first aid; namely checking for mild concussion. He helped Finn into the kitchen, ignoring his grumbling, and found some tissue for him to hold to his nose. He then pulled out his phone, and shone the screen light into his brother's eyes. Finn's pupils dilated and he swatted Kurt away.

"Man, what are you doing?" he demanded, thickly, and Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Checking for concussion, you banged your head hard." Finn rubbed the tender spot on his forehead, and blinked, labouredly.

"Yeah, it hurts."

"Take that away from your nose." said Kurt, pulling away the tissue, and examining Finn's nose. The flow of blood seemed to be stopping, and, whilst it looked a little redder, it wasn't obviously crooked or out of place so that was a good thing. "I think you just need some ice." said Kurt, opening the freezer whilst Finn continued to groan and grumble. "Here."

"Thanks." Finn took the ice cubes that Kurt had wrapped in a tea towel, and pressed them to his nose, wincing in pain. Kurt eyed him critically.

"Is the pain bad?" he asked, and Finn shrugged.

"I'll just take some paracetamol, I should be fine." Kurt opened one of the cupboards and pulled a small pack out, and then some arnica. He handed it wordlessly to Finn who popped two and swallowed them without any water. He squirted a bit of cream onto his finger, and dapped it onto the bruise that was forming on the side of Finn's head.

He stepped back a little, when he was done, and carefully examined his emotional state because, a year ago, he'd have been reduced to a puddle of overexcited emotional goo if he'd touched Finn like that, but now he felt nothing, but worry, exasperation and a little bit of humour. It was what he needed to help him follow through with his conviction to give up on Blaine, to get over the dazzling Warbler. He just needed to remember Finn, and the way all those feelings had translated themselves into a brotherly affection.

"Can you breathe properly?" asked Kurt, snapping himself away from his own thoughts, and Finn shrugged.

"It's a bit painful…but I'm okay." Kurt looked up at him, and gave him a small smirk.

"So, have we learnt our lesson today?" he questioned. Finn glared at him, as best he could, and made his way to the sofa, collapsing down onto it. Kurt, knowing there was hope for the decorating now that he'd lost his human ladder, reeled in the lights and slammed the door closed. He flopped down on the sofa next to Finn, and turned to see what was one. To his surprise Finn was on a channel showing re-runs of _Voices of the Woods_.

It might have been Kurt's imagination, but since he'd met five of David's step-parents, they seemed to be turning up _everywhere_. The day after the concert he'd turned on the radio only to hear Rosanne Watters' new number one single - _Lift Me_ - being played across _four_ different stations, and downstairs some boys had got hold of fashion catalogue - no doubt to ogle the models rather than admire the clothes - and he'd looked over their shoulders and seen Katelyn Slade posing with an umbrella. Then they'd been watching the TV in the common room, and an interview with Craig Malloy had revealed that he was going to be guest starring regularly in the next series of Heartbreak High: 2nd generation, whilst also working on a new Tim Burton movie. Now, a programme that Kurt had half watched as a child about a group of puppet woodlands animals that made the names of both Serian Clifford _and_ Todd Sommers, was being played at _Christmas_.

"What the hell?" demanded Finn, staring as Marty the Squirrel - surprise, surprise voiced by Todd Sommers - attempted to woo Chelsea the Squirrel - voiced by, you guessed it, Serina Clifford - with a ring of acorns that he was sitting in. Kurt shook his head.

"No idea." he said, still shaking his head in a bemused fashion. "I have absolutely no idea." Finn flicked up the information, and read the description;

_Marty continues to pursue Chelsea whilst Aidan gets a taste of his own medicine…_

"I thought this was a kids programme." he said, voice now baffled, and Kurt shrugged, half watching Aidan the Owl have his nest filled with wood shavings by a pack of mice, who seemed to want to suffocate him.

"It _is_ a kids programme," said Kurt, starting to realise that it was quite different to how he remembered it as a child, as Marty the Squirrel ran around with his tail firmly in the air, showing off his butt to the entire world.

"I'm freaked out." said Finn, changing channel as Chelsea leapt onto Marty's back, and Kurt hoped that he hadn't just watched squirrel porn. They continued to flick around until Kurt jabbed Finn's arm to make him stop. Finn raised his eyebrows in shock.

"..._look, I get it, we've been through a ton of shit together, and we're, like, bonded, or whatever, but blood is __**everything**__…I'd do __**anything**__ to have grandparents!_" Kurt and Finn exchanged raised eyebrows at the episode of _Chokehold_ that was playing. The ten friends, all looking worn out, were standing before the imposing structure of _Colston_, and Donna - played by Jenny Crowe - was gesticulating wildly, blonde hair flying. "_…don't turn your back on them for something like __**me**__…_" There was a moment of pause before David's mum's character - Violet - gave an indignant snort.

"_But if you "__**got it**__" you'd understand! Blood __**isn't**__ everything, it's __**love**__! We didn't fly to LA because you were nothing, don't you get it? You aren't broken - not to us. Look at us, we're __**all**__ broken, every __**fucking**__ human being is messed up! The only difference is that we can accept that…and the fact is - even though when I first came here I hated your guts, __**and**__ I __**still**__ can't stand your music tastes - I'd rather have __**you**__ over __**her**__._" The characters on screen shared looks of understanding, and a montage of footage from season one's prank war, their first time all together, Eileen's party and the following series of pain and heartbreak occurred.

"That is _odd_." said Finn, staring at the TV screen and blinking. Kurt didn't disagree, but he did turn the volume up as he watched Manuel and Keith kiss - he shipped those two _hard_; curse the writers and their desire for realism, the two were _meant to be_ - and Finn shrugged, and settled back, clearly amazed to see a group of people whose problems were more convoluted than the New Directions.

The two of them then decided that, because it was cold outside and Finn was injured and Kurt just felt _lazy_, they were going to have a TV marathon. Kurt put on the popcorn, and Finn found some chocolate, and dragged some blankets down from upstairs, and they lay back, arguing in a good natured fashion over what they should watch. Kurt was all pumped to watch all five series, and seven specials, of _Chokehold_, but, unsurprisingly, Finn had never seen it all before, probably only catching the last special, like Kurt had. Except, unlike Finn, Kurt had then decided to go back and watch the rest.

Eventually, after some tugging of the remote, and Finn dripping the wet tea towel over them both, they decided to watch _Heartbreak High_. It was an odd show, but they both liked the second generation version that had started a little while ago. Finn had then admitted he'd never seen _all_ of the original series, and, in Kurt's eyes, that was a crime against television, and insisted that they had to watch it all, and that watching second generation wasn't _half_ as good if you hadn't seen the original show.

Heartbreak High was exactly what it said on the tin; a drama about a bunch of High School kids who continually broke each other's hearts by getting involved in love triangles, squares, circles and any other kind of two dimensional shape one would care to think of. The thing that made it stand out, though, was the class of acting. Craig Malloy, who played an angst ridden Sophomore in the first series who was destined to never graduate, was so convincing that, when the Geography teacher he'd fallen into lust with him gently let him down, it never failed to reduce Kurt to tears as he watched the heartbroken expression on his face, and how he wept for what, he felt, was the end of his life.

No character was likeable, either. Louis Sullivan - Craig's character - had obsessive tendencies that meant he stalked women, and had come close to sexually assaulting them, but Kurt loved him dearly as a person because, peel back the layers, he was so soft and vulnerable and confused. His dad, when Kurt had explained this to him, had commented that he sounded like an orange, and the idea had stuck with him ever since so that, sometimes, he found himself randomly giggling at the teenager who carried a knife in his pocket.

It often reminded Kurt of McKinley when he watched it, and it was shows like these that had helped him hold his head up a little bit higher. There was gay character on the show, and he had the _crap_ beaten out of him _all the time_, and, as the storylines were based off a survey taken by high school students over on the west coast, it reminded him he wasn't alone. (Kurt was also sure that _this_ was where they got the idea of locking people in port-a-potties came from, but he tended to ignore that). This show had also convinced him, at one point, that he was living in some weird version of _The Truman Show_ because his life was _so_ like a TV programme at times it was _unreal_ - especially since he joined the Glee club.

The one thing that had actually seemed to _not_ fit with the idea that his life was a TV show had been his dad. Sure, Kurt knew his dad hadn't been _thrilled_ when he'd found out that Kurt was gay, but he'd never said a _bad word_ about Kurt, and he tried to stand up for him. Watching all the other programmes, though, was depressing because the dad's of the gay kids were all-American men who _hated_ the idea of a gay son, and it was one of the things that had made him _terrified_ of coming out - the beginning of _Chokehold_ series two had been enough to emotionally scar him for good, and, also, it made it impossible for him to see good things.

That was a reason that he liked _Chokehold_ and _HH_. They might have had bad (_terrible_) relationships with their parents (_Chokehold _series two), but they always seemed to find good friends. It was one thing that had made him set his sighs so firmly on college because people in college were open minded and liberal, mostly. Still, the ending of _HH_, the original series, had brought him to tears, especially when one of the bullies got _stabbed_ for Arthur - the gay character - and _died_. He hadn't exactly done it out of the goodness of his heart, but he had been seeking penance because he'd just beaten the crap out of his girlfriend and realised the…okay, it was _complicated_, but after that people had treated Arthur differently because they'd seen that had to have been something in him _worth_ saving, and him and Louis had been on-and-off friends for the past two series.

Finn was surprisingly good company to watch TV with. He asked questions quite a bit, but that was only if he didn't quite get what was going on, and most of the time it was because you weren't _meant_ to get what was going on and if Kurt told him it would ruin the plot. Other than that, he sat in silence and laughed at the right moments - both because of the characters and the comments Kurt made - and even let out a couple of gasps, the loudest when Stacey revealed, shockingly, that she was blacking mailing Lloyd into tell her parents that she was pregnant so that they could stay together, and Lloyd wouldn't go out with Mandy like he wanted to, even though Mandy and Josh were an item, and the blackmail material was that Lloyd had slept with one of the teachers.

_I never thought me and Finn could do **this**…We're actually watching TV together, fighting over popcorn, and sharing a blanket…it's just crazy…my relationship with him is just moving so fast…Some times I forget that we use to not talk - that was I in love with me, and that I was **furious** with him because we can actually be such good friends…It's mind boggling…I guess I don't need TV to show that progress can be made…I have my own proof, and he's fast asleep on my sofa, sharing his duvet with me, with a swollen nose that's dripping water, and almost resting his head on my shoulder…Inspiring…_

* * *

Blaine rubbed his hands, which were cold despite wearing woolly gloves, together. He pulled the hat down over his ears, and watched his footing on the icy pavement. The wind was fierce, and he cursed the fact that Emily had to work otherwise he could have had a lift. His nose had lost all feeling, and his cheeks stung when he was hit by a snowball hurled by Lucas. The snot-nosed six-but-now-eight year old shot him a superior smirk, and Blaine wanted to hurl some snow back at him because his cheeks were _still_ stinging, but his dad was watching from the window.

"Blaine?" a shovel was dropped, and Blaine broke into a grin at the sight of the old man dressed in a dark brown overcoat, waterproof trousers and wellies who was staring at him.

"Reverend!" he cried, breaking into a run. It was a foolish thing to do, and Blaine slipped and went tumbling to the floor, face planted into the freshly shovelled snow. He let out an _"oof"_ a couple of seconds after he ought to have, and he could feel his face freezing.

"Blaine? Blaine, are you okay?" Blaine prised his face from the snow, and blinked up into a wrinkled, concerned face, that two blue eyes shone from in an astute manner.

"Um…I'm-"

"_Blaine_!" A front door opened and there was the sound of pounding feet. He was pulled up, and he grinned at the boy who sported a crew cut and heavy black eyebrows and was staring into his pink cheeks and snow-covered face.

"Oz." he said, a little breathlessly. He was then pulled into a tight hug. Oscar was wearing a hand knitted sweater that was soft and warm, and Blaine pressed his face against his shoulder. Oscar stood head and shoulders above Blaine, literally, so his shoulder was always on a good level for Blaine to get comfort and safety from.

"Boys," they broke apart, and looked at Reverend Arnold who was giving them both a very steady look. He was retired, he'd taken quite a bit of heat for his surprisingly liberal views, but he often looked after Garth when no one else could, and was often regarded at the Maddison's private Father. "you need to go inside, before someone looses their toes." Blaine looked down at Oscar's feet and saw that he had nothing on.

"_Oscar_!" he exclaimed, and shooed him back into the house as Oscar continued to laugh loudly at the scandalised expression that had appeared on Blaine's face.

"Blaine," said Arnold, catching his arm. "how are you?" Blaine shrugged, not really sure. He'd avoided his dad successfully for the past couple of days, and busied himself with teaching Anna to play the guitar and piano so that he didn't have to think about it all. Sebastian had been emailing him constantly, but Blaine didn't have the heart to make Sebastian's holiday, which had so far almost landed him in hospital _twice_ because his cousins hated him, _worse_.

"I don't know." he admitted, shrugging once more. "Things with dad aren't good, but…something happened with Cooper…it's odd…" Arnold nodded, picking up his shovel, and giving him an appraising look.

"I heard you have a boyfriend." Blaine nodded, knowing that Emily must have told him.

"Yeah, Sebastian." the kindly reverend nodded at him, clearly deep in thought.

"And are you happy and safe?" Blaine nodded, firmly. Arnold narrowed his eyes slightly. "I was led to believe that this…_boy_ had a slightly…" he paused, clearly searching for the right word to put into context what he said. "_promiscuous_ nature." Blaine snorted under his breath at that, never thinking he'd hear a man of God say the word "_promiscuous_" - _ha_, that's another bet he'd won against Drew.

"It's okay," he said, dragging his mind away from the ridiculous series of bets that they'd made about what they could get religious people to say. "Sebastian would _never_ pressure me…" he shivered, inadvertently, and the Father looked at him with an almost imperceptible frown.

"Your friend? Barcelona?" he questioned, and Blaine nodded. He'd been _almost_ completely honest about why he'd jetted off last Summer with Oscar and Reverend Arnold, _almost_. "I see, well, God bless and keep you, Blaine. I pray for you everyday." Blaine smiled at him.

"And I you." with a final smile he bounded up the steps and into the Maddison's house that was tall, and narrow. It was cramped and dark in the hallway and Blaine squinted through the unnatural darkness at the figure of Oscar on the bottom of the stairs.

"Sorry, the light bulb blew, and we haven't got round to replacing it." Blaine just shrugged and took off his shoes and outer layer.

"Oz, are you _sure_ that your parents aren't going to turn up?" Oscar managed to give him a condescending look through the gloom.

"Blaine, do you _really_ think I would have invited you if I thought there was the _slightest_ possibility that you'd run into each other?" Blaine sighed, and then shook his head. Garth and Oscar's dad leaping at him in fury was forever going to be engrained into his mind. Blaine wasn't sure he'd still be around if Oscar hadn't bundled him out of the house, and into the rev's next door.

"How's college?" he asked, changing topic as they quietly tread their way up the stairs and into the light. Oscar shrugged.

"I dunno…okay, I guess…not much happening really." he turned to Blaine as they got onto the landing, raising an eyebrow slightly. "But, come on, we both know that it's _you_ we need to talk about. Emily told me some very interesting stories." Blaine rolled his eyes as he slipped into Oscar's room.

"If _you're_ going to be shocked about me asking out Sebastian I'll punch you."

"Yeah, right." snorted Oscar, and flicked on the light. Blaine blinked in shock as he looked around Oscar's sea-green bedroom that looked _much_ barer than it use to be. The posters of rock bands; Metallica, AC/DC and such, were gone. The pictures had been packed away. The army men that had been hanging from the ceiling were gone too, as were the model planes.

"What happened?" demanded Blaine, looking around, shocked to see the change. Oscar rolled his eyes, collapsing down onto his Star Wars bed sheets and the bed groaned.

"Mum made me do it…she said that it might "_upset_" Garth…" he rolled his eyes. Blaine pulled out the computer chair and sat down, frowning in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Oscar sat up, crossing his legs and resting his elbows on his knees.

"Garth's memory it's spotty, and it's not coming back…Mum doesn't _want_ it to…she thinks all my stuff…" he waved his hand vaguely around the room. "will remind him of it all…" he shrugged, and Blaine swallowed heavily.

_"We can play in Oscar's room…he has **such** cool stuff…trust me…"_

_"Zap! Zap!"_

_"Hey, no fair, you got the fighter jet!"_

_"Die Voldermort!"_

Blaine tried to hide the smile as he remembered the days when he used to play in Oscar's room after school with Garth. Garth had been such a strange person; he lived in a glass closet, but at the same time he was so far in he'd found Narnia. He was still very much a geeky ten year old, and him and Blaine had spent their time fighting with Nerf guns, toy soldiers and sticks as wands.

"Oh, I have something for you." he reached under the mattress and pulled a set of small notepads. Blaine let out a snort of laughter as he wheeled himself closer, realising what they were…

_Garth Maddison and Blaine Anderson's Amazing Flipbook_

…was written on the top of each, and they all portrayed people getting murdered in extremely cartoonish ways. He picked up the top one and flicked through, watching their old maths teacher be impaled by a minus sign, have a multiplying sign decapitate him and for the divide sign to smash into his face. He laughed. Garth had drawn all the cartoons, but it was Blaine who had come up with the ideas.

"You can keep them." Blaine looked up at him in surprise. Oscar shrugged. "My parents keep throwing stuff out. I'll just keep the one where you murder me, though." Blaine laughed, and nodded, pocketing the notebooks with a grateful grin.

"Thanks." Oscar shrugged, and then grinned at Blaine.

"You know, I do believe that you asked Sebastian out; I mean, you asked out Garth." Blaine went pink, remembering his crush on Garth. He nodded, feeling guilty, and Oscar patted his arm. "It's okay, Blaine, we've been through this." Blaine nodded, swallowing, and then brightening at the sound of Garth's voice shouting through the house.

"_Oz_! _Oz_!" Oscar leapt up from the bed, and beckoned Blaine with his head.

"What's up, kid?" he asked, dashing into Garth's room. Blaine followed, and was assaulted by a bright colour. He always forgot that his room had been changed from a navy colour to a sky blue. It was filled with toys, and it was padded and protected.

"Hungry." he said, blinking slowly. Oscar nodded just as slowly, and beckoned for Blaine to sit down.

"Okay, I'll leave with _my_ friend, Blaine." Blaine winced at that. He loved Oscar to the bottom of his heart, the guy had looked out for Blaine as well as Garth, but it always hurt that he had to pretend that he hadn't known Garth. "You remember him?" Garth looked at him, eyes ever so slightly glazed. Then he nodded.

"Singing man." he said, simply, and Oscar nodded.

"Yeah, how's your head?"

"Good." Oscar nodded slowly again.

"Well, that's good, I'll get food, and Blaine can sing for you, sound good?" Garth nodded, and Blaine took a deep breath as Oscar fetched him Caroline's guitar. "Have fun, _don't_ sing anything too, you know…" Blaine nodded in understanding, and Oscar breathed out heavily, leaving the room. Blaine settled down, and looked into Garth's face.

It was hard. It never got better. Shining out of his eyes was a kid. He was _happy_, _carefree_, and he didn't remember Blaine because that kept him safe. A part of Blaine wanted to bolt from the house, down the street and just keep running because it was so _wrong_ to look into his face and see someone his own age, but who was so…_innocent_. He swallowed down the lump in his throat, and tentatively began to play.

_Shipwreck in a sea of faces_

_There's a dreamy world up there_

_Dear friends in higher places_

_Carry me away from here_

He looked back down into his eyes, letting all the old feelings come back out as he stared into a pair of sea green eyes that used to be capable of stopping his heart with a simple glance. The heavy eyebrows that used to quirk and make his mind spin. The small, delicate, lips that smiled so easily at whatever Blaine said, and made the sun come out. It was all there. All the same, but so very, very, different…

_Travel light, let the sun eclipse you_

_'Cause your flight is about to leave_

_And there's more to this brave adventure_

_Than you'd ever believe_

It may not appear it on a first meeting, but Garth was the dreamer of the two of them. Blaine might have sung and danced, but it was Garth's head that was in clouds. Garth that spouted random sci-fi quotes. Garth that could see the bright future. Garth that could see the way out when Blaine got bogged down in day to day life. Garth that believed that there was something more for them out there. Believed that they were _special_…

_Birdseye view, awake the stars 'cause they're all around you_

_Wide eyes will always brighten the blue_

_Chase your dreams, and remember me, sweet bravery_

_'Cause after all those wings will take you up so high_

Sometimes Blaine wondered whether Garth was really happy, and that, if he was, Blaine was just being selfish to want him back. He wondered whether, deep inside Garth's mind, it made him happy to just never know who he was, and that if he could ever actually build a normal life on top of it.

_So bid the forest floor goodbye_

_As you race the wind and take to the sky_

_You take to the sky..._

He wondered whether, if he could act his age, and still not remember what had happened, he'd still be happy? He could go on, live his life, and Blaine knew that Garth would have done amazing things with his life he'd had a chance to live it properly.

He wondered if he - _Blaine_ - could keep on doing this. Could he keep coming back to him? Every time he was sure that Garth didn't know who he was at first sight. He certainly never seemed to remember his name, and, sure, Blaine sang to Garth every time so "_singing man_" wasn't _inaccurate_, but he just wished he could be more. Oscar, Caroline…he remembered them both fully. He knew that Caroline's parents were dead, even though it happened in the year he'd blocked out…

It was just Blaine…just high school…just life that hadn't gone well that was gone…Which made him want to cry because Garth had been Blaine's guiding light, but Garth had wiped Blaine because it was too painful to remember him…Blaine couldn't even begin to describe _how much _that had hurt.

_There's a realm above the trees_

_Where the lost are finally found_

_Touch your feathers to the breeze_

_And leave the ground_

Oscar tiptoed back into the room, tray of food, and smiled at the sight. Blaine might think that Garth had forgotten him, but Oscar could see what only an older brother could. That look in Garth's eyes every time Blaine sang, a happy light, a hopeful thing…Garth had loved to hear Blaine sing, said it sounded like hope, and it was still there…He might not remember Blaine, but he remembered his voice, and how that made him feel.

_Birdseye view, awake the stars 'cause they're all around you_

_Wide eyes will always brighten the blue_

_Chase your dreams, and remember me, sweet bravery_

_'Cause after all those wings will take you up so high_

He settled down on a chair, and used the underside to give Blaine a beat. Blaine looked at him, and his eyes lit up because this was something they used to do all the time. Something that Garth had _loved_. Oscar never sung, unless he was drunk, but he did have a wide grin, and Blaine just felt lighter.

_So bid the forest floor goodbye_

_As you race the wind and take to the sky_

_You take to the sky_

Blaine hoped that, somewhere inside of Garth's mind, he'd managed to plant a small seed of hope. Make him think that anything was possible again, give him some kind of encouragement to do _anything_. It was Christmas, after all, and Garth would enjoy himself, and maybe Blaine could start feeling a small feeling of redemption…maybe…

_You take to the sky_

There was a silence. Garth stayed focused on them just long enough to give him a brief smile, and clap his hands together before he moved onto food, which was far more captivating than Blaine. That was a big difference between the two Garth's; the one that he knew had always forgotten to eat if he got distracted enough.

"Come with me," said Oscar, beckoning Blaine down to the kitchen. Blaine nodded and followed Oscar down the stairs, knowing that Garth got kind of fussy about people watching him eat. Oscar held the silence between them in such a manner that Blaine knew that he had done something wrong. His hands went to the notebooks in his pocket. They were still friends.

The kitchen was lighter, and Blaine leant against a work surface, facing Oscar who was busy knocking back a can of beer. It could have been Blaine's imagination, but he thought that Oscar drank a bit more than he used to. Blaine got it, dealing with Garth was no doubt stressful, but Oscar had _abhorred_ alcohol unless they were celebrating, and Blaine didn't think that there was anything to celebrate.

The door slammed, though, before Oscar could say anything to Blaine, and he could hear the faint sound of Caroline stumbling around as she tried to get her things out of harm's way. Oscar clamped his mouth shut, gave Blaine a pointed look that Blaine had no idea how to interpret, and then moved to the doorway.

"Caz, Blaine's in the kitchen!" he called. There was a stumble, a mild curse, and then his name was yelled in a high pitch tone of voice, and he barely had time to see Oscar darting out of the way before Caroline had thrown her arms around him.

"Hi Caz." he said, stumbling backwards a little bit. "Nice to see you too." The gangly twelve year old disentangled herself from him, and took a step back grinning.

"It's so nice to see you, Blaine, after all, I missed you in the summer." Blaine nodded.

"Yeah, I guess that's true."

"Why weren't you shovelling the snow for the rev?" asked Oscar, leaning casually against the countertop. Caroline rolled her eyes, hopping on a chair to retrieve a thermos from one of the cupboards.

"I was going to, but Aggie turned up and you know what Arnold's like, he insisted that I go with her, said he was _fine_." she leapt back off the chair, wobbled, and then grinned up at Blaine. "Have you sung to Garth yet?" she asked, as she unscrewed the lid and poured herself some hot chocolate. Blaine nodded as his nostrils were filled with the warm scent. "Oh…" she said, sighing and dropping her shoulders. "I wanted to hear that. What did you sing?"

"_To the Sky_, Owl City." Caroline's face dropped into an instant frown.

"Is that a good idea?" she questioned, and Blaine copied her facial expression, confusion sparking inside of him.

"Huh? Why wouldn't it be?" Caroline sighed, glancing at Oscar who purposefully trained his eyes onto Blaine.

"Well, you know, it's all about…_breaking free_ and all…aren't you encouraging him to remember?" Blaine opened his mouth, faltered, and then returned to staring at her in confusion.

"I guess…" he said, slowly. "but," he shrugged. "it's not that much…I mean, it's kind of subtle, right?" Caroline gave him a very sharp looking, suddenly looking far older than twelve.

"Blaine, I know that you want him to remember you, but you can't force it upon him like that! It's not good for him!" Caroline turned to Oscar as Blaine gaped, feeling confused and upset, and slowly swivelled his head to the older Maddison. Oscar braced the counter top, and gave Blaine a piercing look.

"Caz is right, Blaine. You're not allowed to do that, remember? You can't force these kind of things upon Garth! Remember the wall."

"Walls can come down."

"Not this one, Blaine. This wall _stays_. No questions." There was something deadened in his voice that made him frown, but Caroline just smiled, pecked them both on the cheeks and dashed up the stairs.

"_Oz_!" exclaimed Blaine, feeling displaced and put upon. Why was Oscar having a go at him like that? Oscar wanted Garth to get his memories back just as much as Blaine. Oscar held up his hands, put up a finger for silence, and beckoned Blaine closer when he heard Caz chattering to Garth.

"Sorry, B, had to tow the company line," Blaine blinked at him, brows creasing further. Oscar rolled his eyes. "Caz, well, Caz trusts mum and dad…she buys their crap. Doesn't realise that they're making things worse." Blaine's eyebrows shot upwards, and his mouth dropped open.

"Oz, what are you _saying_?" Oscar took in a large breath, and then beckoned Blaine a little bit closer so that their foreheads were almost touching.

"That this house is _killing_ him!" Blaine was pretty sure that his eyes couldn't get wider, and he thought that his heart was beating faster than was normal for having a conversation with Oscar.

"Oz, what-"

"Let me finish," he said, flapping his hands around and almost smacking Blaine. "mum and dad are… they're stifling him! They're treating him like he's actually _five_ or something! They're never going to let him remember! I'm _worried_ about him! And I want-" he broke off, dropping his voice even more. "I want to get him out of here!" Blaine was sure he'd misheard.

"Excuse me?" he demanded, mind spinning dangerously towards the self-destruct part when he was completely baffled by a situation. Oscar rolled his eyes, and took a deep breath.

"I want to take Garth to my apartment." Blaine blinked at him.

"You have an apartment?" Oscar rolled his eyes again.

"Well, it's Mae's apartment, but that's not the point." Blaine blinked.

"You're back together with Mae?" Oscar grabbed Blaine's head and actually shook it. Blaine stumbled and flailed his arms.

"_Not_ the most important thing, B! I'm saying that me and Mae have been back together for a little while, and, whilst mum and dad did throw some stuff out, I've been moving my things to hers, and I want to take Garth with me!" Blaine gaped at him, mouth just getting wider.

"You _what_?" There was a moment of silence in which Blaine saw that Oscar was completely serious, and that he was doing this whether or not Blaine thought it was a good idea, and that what he really wanted was for Blaine to give him some support, to help him plan. "Mae's okay with this?" Oscar nodded.

"She agrees with me; her older sister is a therapist." Blaine exhaled heavily, thinking it all through carefully.

"Okay, what do you need me to do?"

* * *

_It's getting to me more and more. The guys just **don't** want to talk to me! I'm still getting sporadic mails from Juri, but he's little brother's sick, or something, and his sister things that he's "wicked" - not sure what that's meant to mean - and so he's busy. Trinity have filled my inbox with weird photos of cats, snow and them…I'm not really sure what to think…Looks like they're having fun, though… Obviously, Keats has been in touch, and he tells me that he misses me, but he doesn't want to talk about what he's doing, or how things with his dad are…No one else, though. Blaine doesn't want to, or any of my other Warbler friends…_

"Mornin' Kurt," said Finn, sleepily as he traipsed into the kitchen. Kurt was busy reading his exam results at the table, carefully examining the mark schemes for the different tests, and feeling quite pleased with himself.

"It's almost the afternoon," he replied, without looking up, and Finn shrugged, ruffling up his hair and opening the fridge.

"Ah, well, I totally _destroyed_ Puck on Halo, so…time well spent." he shrugged, again, picking out the milk cartoon.

"Get a cup," said Kurt without looking up, flipping over a page and frowning at his chemistry test results. "and then put it _back in the fridge_." Finn grunted in response, and then moved to sit next to Kurt, looking over his shoulder.

"Those your results?" he questioned, and Kurt nodded. "How did you do?" Kurt shrugged.

"Good, I guess…" Finn frowned at him, clearly asking what "_good, I guess_" meant, and Kurt sighed. He shoved the document towards Finn.

"This is my mark," he said, indicating to the first column. "this is the average, and that is the highest mark." he indicated to the next two columns. "So, you'll see that I got below average in most of my exams."

"Not in French," pointed out Finn, and Kurt nodded. "you're, like, 6% off the top mark; that's pretty impressive."

"Yes, it is, at least I passed everything."

"Kurt, you got, like, in the seventies in _everything_-"

"Not History or Maths." Finn glared at him, but then carried on talking like he hadn't been interrupted.

"-_and_ you, like, missed loads of the work and all. Man, I'd kill for results like that!" he slapped Kurt on the back, rather harder than was necessary, but Kurt appreciated the gesture.

He supposed that he had got very good grades, but he was used to his marks being higher, and so it was a little bit of a let down to see the little, printed 68% for Maths, and, worse of all, 62% for History. Though, looking at the average, he saw that that was the only one in the seventies; 76%, and that no one had got in the nineties, the highest mark being 89%, and guessed that that probably had a lot more to do with Mrs Daniels than it did anything else.

There was a little note from Hammonds attached his marks, commending his achievements and telling him not to be discouraged in any way. Hammonds also complimented his singing in the Carol Service, and made, what looked like, a congratulations for getting together with Keats, and "_putting that dreadful incident with Charles behind_" him. Hammonds hadn't exactly said "_well done for getting a boyfriend_", he probably wasn't allowed to, but it was there, in between the lines, and Kurt appreciated the thought.

"How are you going to celebrate?" Finn was back at the table, this time with a bowl of cereal that was drowning in milk, and stared at Kurt with wide eyes as he stuffed his spoon into his mouth. Kurt considered the question, he hadn't really thought about celebrating, but suddenly the idea was quite appealing.

"Well, I've been meaning to go shopping for Christmas presents…" he trailed off, considering the time and wondering if any of the girls would be up for it. Finn stared at him with wide eyes.

"But, man, shopping is _torture_!" Kurt chuckled to himself, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, how typically male." he said, airily, gathering the papers together. Finn grunted out a response, stuffing more food into his mouth, and Kurt just shook his head in disapproval as he pulled out his phone and texted Mercedes.

_Fancy a shopping trip?-K_

His phone buzzed back almost instantly, and Kurt eagerly looked at the message, only to feel a surge of disappointment.

_Love 2 but have 2 c my grandparents! Already in car there, sorry!-M_

Kurt sighed, and then texted both Rachel and Tina, asking them the same thing as Finn gulped down the milk in the bowl, wiped away the white moustache and moved over to the sink.

_Sorry, Kurt, I'm out with my dads-R_

_Ah, why didn't u text me yesterday? Could have saved me from my aunts!-T_

Kurt chortled and rolled his eyes at Tina's message, and tucked his phone away. He'd have to think of another celebration because, yes, shopping was fun, but Kurt didn't really feel like going on his own. He turned around, about to suggest that he and Finn have another TV marathon, when Finn spoke.

"Hey, if you do go to the mall will you get my aunt a present? Mum told me _I_ have to buy for her this year, but I have, like, _zero_ ideas." Kurt's eyes went wide. The situation wasn't ideal, obviously because it was Finn, but Finn also needed to go shopping.

"How about you come with me?" Finn's mouth dropped open, and his eyes went comically wide. He began to impersonate a fish with a great deal of earnest before finding his voice.

"I-I don't know, Kurt, I mean you love shopping, I hate it…I'm seeing a conflict…" Kurt rolled his eyes.

"_Come on_, Finn, have you bought your mum a Christmas present yet?" Finn stared at him, half glaring, but also half guilty looking.

"Oh alright."

"_Yes_!" Kurt spun around, smirking to himself in victory. "Give me twenty minutes to get ready!" he called, hurrying towards his room, and almost laughed at Finn's loud groan.

Kurt found that, actually, he was down in ten minutes, having only needed to select a coat, scarf and boots. Finn was already waiting for him, gillet and trainers on and stuffing his hands into gloves that looked like they might be too small for him.

"Can I drive?" he asked, immediately, and Kurt just glared at him.

"I heard all about the postman incident, Finn," he said in response, opening the front door. "and there's ice on the roads. I'd rather _not_ get in a car crash." Finn grumbled, but climbed into the passenger seat of his own car regardless, Kurt's Navigator was inconveniently still at Dalton.

Kurt started the car, and Finn began to fiddle with the radio. Kurt eyed what he was doing, but just let him be until Nickelback came blasting out of the speakers.

_She was just a woman_

_Never again..._

"_Christ_, Finn!" resettling in his seat, and adjusting his grip on the wheel after he'd leapt up in the air in shock. "Turn that down!" Finn grinned at him, but obediently twisted the dial down, and Kurt realised then Finn had a CD playing. He groaned, about to comment on Finn's choice of band when Finn suddenly turned the music up as the song changed;

_Never made it as a wise man_

_I couldn't cut it as a poor man stealing_

_Tired of living like a blind man_

_I'm sick of sight without a sense of feeling_

"I love this song!" he shouted, banging his head enthusiastically along to the beat.

_And this is how you remind me_

Finn began to play air guitar, grinning at Kurt who rolled his eyes and shook his head, knowing that he wasn't going to get much out of Finn now.

_This is how you remind me_

_Of what I really am_

_This is how you remind me_

_Of what I really am_

He did a long drum roll in the air, throwing his head from side to side, and Kurt just gaped at him as he opened his mouth, tipping his head back, to belt out the chorus;

_It's not like you to say sorry_

_I was waiting on a different story_

_This time I'm mistaken_

_For handing you a heart worth breaking_

His singing was different to when Kurt had last heard him; it was rugged, rough, and he was close to shouting, but Kurt knew that it was spontaneous, he wasn't thinking about it at all, and that it was coming from deep down within him. Kurt felt his head moving along to the beat despite himself.

_And I've been wrong, I've been down_

_Been to the bottom of every bottle_

_These five words in my head_

_Scream, "Are we having fun yet?"_

Suddenly Kurt realised that he was singing about Rachel, and her screwing with his head, but didn't think that Finn really knew that as he continued to pound the air with his fists. It was like he'd instantly connected with the song, but Kurt reckoned that he hadn't thought about it too much.

_Yeah, yeah, yeah_

_No, no_

_Yeah, yeah, yeah_

_No, no_

_It's not like you didn't know that_

_I said I love you and I swear I still do_

_And it must have been so bad_

_'Cause living with me must have damn near killed you_

Kurt joined Finn on the next verse, and Finn shot him a smile that almost said "_told you so_". Kurt never quite got used to singing with a low voice, but it sounded pretty cool with Finn's. They'd never really done a duet together, and Kurt realised that they'd definitely missed a trick.

_And this is how you remind me_  
_Of what I really am…_

It was funny how natural it felt to just belt out lyrics alongside each other in the car. There was a warmth, not just coming from the car heating, but also inside of Kurt at the simplicity of it all. How they felt like brothers. It was different to when he'd sung with Keats, but surprisingly similar at the same time. He'd felt kind of light headed and giggly around Keats, but with Finn there was a sort of…strength to their voices, no doubt partly created because Finn could actually sing, unlike Keats.

Still, Kurt just felt secure in the song, with their voices, in the car. He almost couldn't believe that he had been stupid enough to chase after Finn's love, with all the problems and doubts and mistakes that occurred in that territory, when he could have been his friend, his brother, instead.

_Never made it as a wise man_

The backing dropped away, and Finn's voice fell to a quiet whisper, grinning at Kurt, who fully appreciated the joke as Finn would never, ever, make it as any kind of wise man - unless it was wisdom about messing up relationships or putting your foot in your mouth because Finn was good at that.

_I couldn't cut it as a poor man stealing_

Kurt sang back in a kind of reply to Finn, swaying his head from side to side, and focusing his eyes on the road in front of him whilst allowing his mind to wander off onto other things. Strangely enough it made him think of him and Blaine; Kurt stealing Blaine's scholarship because he couldn't afford Dalton.

_And this is how you remind me_

Finn sang back to him, his voice slightly louder and tilting his head back against the headrest, glancing at Kurt with a relaxed grin.

_This is how you remind me_

Kurt pulled the car into stop at the lights as he sang his answer, and was given time to laugh at Finn's overenthusiastic air-drumming before he had to drive off again.

_This is how you remind me_

_Of what I really am_

They joined back in, voices charging through the lyrics together. They weren't exactly singing loudly, but their voices were strong together. Their voices were charged and Kurt was surprised that Finn could overpower him whilst they were singing.

_It's not like you to say sorry_

_I was waiting on a different story_

_This time I'm mistaken_

_For handing you a heart worth breaking_

_And I've been wrong, I've been down_

_Been to the bottom of every bottle_

_These five words in my head_

_Scream, "Are we having fun yet?"_

The two of them were basically shouting at the top of their voices. They were screaming out the words, vaguely in tune to the song, drowning out the sound of the CD, but it wasn't like they cared at all about that. There were no worries as long as the track was playing

_Yeah, yeah_

_Are we having fun yet?_

_Yeah, yeah_

_No, no_

"Woah!" said Finn, face completely flushed and Kurt couldn't imagine that he looked much better. "That was _epic_, dude, we _have_ _to_ do that more often!" Kurt nodded, reaching forward to turn down the volume.

"Yeah, we do sound good together." Finn let out a laugh and ran a hand down his face.

"I feel loads better," he said, in a mildly surprised voice. "Like, I was really tense, and I now I'm just…" he blew all the air out of his cheeks, unable to find the word.

"I think I'll choose the next song," said Kurt with a grin, turning on the radio.

"Sure thing, bro." Kurt found a station that was playing the beginning of Wizzard's _I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday_. They shared grins, and began to sing straight away;

_When the snowman brings the snow…_

They went for the rest of the journey singing Christmas songs along with the radio. Kurt parked their car and then the shopping trip really began. Finn was not a patient shopping companion and became antsy very quickly when Kurt wanted to look at clothes and bags, but when Kurt made the mistake of letting Finn stray into video games shop it took twenty minutes of fruitless tugging and name-calling, coupled with the promise of food, to get him away from them.

After Finn had been filled with food that Kurt would rather starve than eat, he seemed to gain some form of intent and quickly dashed around to buy his aunt some nice china plates and picking up on Kurt's "_subtle_" hints for what clothes he wanted to buy. It was kind of fun, watching Finn's baffled face as he tried to pick out some clothes for his mum, and the hour in which they traipsed around bought presents for their family passed quickly, and, all to soon, Finn lost his enthusiasm and began to lag behind again.

"Come on, Finn." Kurt walked a little faster, and Finn rolled his eyes and trailed his step-brother through the shopping centre, seemingly weighed down by the different bags that he was carrying.

"Kurt, man, I'm _tired_, can't we stop for food?" Kurt turned around, arching an eyebrow imperiously, and put his hands on his hips.

"We stopped _an hour ago_, Finn! You don't need food every _hour_, right?" Finn groaned and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I'm burning it all off." he grumbled, and Kurt just shook his head, eyes scanning the mall for the appropriate place to buy his boyfriend a gift. Now that Kurt stopped and thought about it, he didn't know _that_ much about Keats. His knowledge extended as far as; he's good at English, and he likes Busted and the Backstreet Boys, that was _it_. Oh, and he liked _Supernatural_…but that _wasn't_ enough to go on - not by a _long_ shot, and Finn was no help because they didn't seem to have many common interests.

"Something wrong?" asked Finn, coming to a stop next to Kurt, and almost dropping the bag that contained some dinnerware for Finn's aunt. Kurt sighed, and tugged his scarf open around his neck.

"I don't know what to get Keats." he said in a frustrated voice. Finn frowned, and looked around, biting his lip.

"Does he have a favourite band?" he asked. Kurt didn't even bother turning his head to glare at him.

"Finn we're _dating_. Would you have bought Rachel or Quinn a CD?" Finn sighed, and shook his head.

"No, definitely not…does he have any hobbies?" Kurt shrugged, frowning.

"He writes…I think…"

"Well…that's…_helpful_…" Kurt snorted, rolling his eyes, and shaking his head as he began to find the whole situation just plain amusing.

_Who would have guessed that I'd be shopping for my boyfriend's Christmas present with **Finn Hudson** as my step-brother…If anyone had said that last year I'd have adamantly said that my boyfriend wouldn't be anybody but said Finn Hudson…funny how the times change…_

"Yeah…are you going to buy Rachel anything?" Kurt pulled himself from his thoughts as he asked the question and moved over to a seat so that they could rest their legs. He heard Finn give a long sigh as he trailed his step-brother.

"I don't know…I mean, _I_ broke up with _her_ so…" he frowned, looking confused, and Kurt nodded, understanding what was puzzling him.

"Yeah, that's a little awkward." Finn hummed in agreement, and sat down, carefully placing the bags on the floor so as not to break anything.

"I guess I could get her a small token, but…" he shrugged, still looking a touch awkward. "I'm still kind of mad with her for what she did with Puck…" he shrugged again, not looking Kurt in the eye. "I mean, it's not _that_ messed up that I still love her, but I don't think I can forgive her, not yet." Kurt shrugged.

"Of course, wasn't actually asking you to." Finn nodded, biting down on his bottom lip.

"Well, if he writes," he said, expertly steering the conversation from his entangled love life. "maybe you could get him a pen, or something…?" Kurt blinked, and then did a mental double take.

_Wait, was that a **genuine** suggestion?_

"Finn…" he said, in a voice of genuine wonder, staring at the boy who had been unable to think of a gift for his own _mother_, but was spouting proper ones for _Kurt's boyfriend_. "That's…_not stupid_." Finn looked at him in confusion.

"Okay?" Kurt shook his head, getting to his feet. "Hey, where are you going?" Kurt turned on the ball of his right foot, and raised an eyebrow.

"Weren't you _just_ complaining about how you needed a break? I'm going to go and look for a pen whilst you sit here and look after the bags." Finn blinked and then nodded.

"Okay, how long will you be gone?" Kurt shrugged.

"I don't know…give me twenty minutes to have a look around, and then I'll come back for you." Finn nodded, stretching and leaning back, looking ready to fall asleep. "_Don't_ fall asleep." he warned, threatening glare in place. Finn held up his hands in surrender.

"I won't, I _swear_." Kurt, chuckling to himself, turned back away from his brother, heading for a stationary shop a little way away. He knew that a pen wasn't _the_ most original thing, but at the same time it was the best suggestion he'd heard. The problem was that he just _didn't_ know that much about his tastes, or _anything_…

He grumbled to himself in annoyance. When had it all become _this_ complicated? Sure, High School had never been a walk in the park - it never _was_ - but there was a line that Kurt would have been prepared to draw that separated normal from crazy, and he was willing to bet that he'd crossed from one side to the other when he put his name on _that_ sign up sheet at the beginning of Sophomore year.

He stepped into the shop, glancing around the milling people with thick winter coats and were hurriedly looking at the different notepads and cards in the store. Kurt stepped towards the display of pens, and noted that many of them were rather tacky looking; fake quills and biros that had sparkly cases so that someone could charge an extra ten dollars, or whatever.

He let out a frustrated sigh, and moved towards the more expensive looking fountain pens in the display cabinet that was locked. He pulled his brows down into a frown as he considered the problem that he was facing. Keats was his boyfriend; Kurt cared _very_ deeply for him, and he relied on him and _trusted_ him, but…Kurt _wasn't_ madly in love with him - and he got the impression that Keats didn't feel that way about him either - so how much was Kurt meant to spend on him?

"Kurt?" Kurt almost clattered into a swivel stand with cards promoting season's greetings at the voice that he heard. He spun around, heart beating fast, and stared at the tall, broad, boy that stood before him, looking a little startled and surprised.

"Karofsky." he said, taking a deep breath, and trying to step back, but was backed against the glass fronted cabinet. He could feel his heartbeat racing a little, and he tried to remember that he was in a crowded place and so Karofsky wouldn't dare hurt him; right?

"Can I help you?" he asked, a little awkwardly, and Kurt just stared at him, mind on halt, in confusion. Then his eyes travelled to his shirt and the badge that was pinned there. "_Hi, my name is Dave. How can I help?_"

"You _work_ here?" demanded Kurt, straightening up at that piece of welcome news. Karofsky shifted, and then looked left and right.

"Yeah." he said in a dark voice. "Dad made me get a part time job, said that I should…that he thought hanging around the Footballers was a bad influence." Kurt raised an eyebrow imperiously.

"Well they _are_." he said, maybe a touch coolly. "Your dad- he didn't seem to have a problem with me being gay…?" Dave shifted uncomfortably, and looked around.

"Will you keep it down?" he demanded in annoyance. "Do you have to broadcast to the _whole world_ that you're…you know?" Kurt just stared at him, feeling startlingly impassive in the situation because he held the power over Karofsky. If he so much as took another _step_ towards him, Kurt could scream and alert the whole shop.

"I'm not ashamed of who I am, _Karofsky_, and you shouldn't be either." There was a heavy pause after that, and Karofsky continued to glare at him.

"Yeah, well, no one cares what you think, you're just a…a _fairy_."

"And you think people actually _care_ about what you think? Azimo's so slow that he couldn't _understand_ what you said, and everyone else only listens because they're terrified that you're going to beat the living _crap_ out of them! Is that what you want? To go around and have _everyone_ hate you just because you're too scared to admit who you really are?" Kurt wasn't sure why he was trying to appeal to Dave's better nature, but Karofsky had come to speak to him, instead of hiding away. That had to mean something, right? Also, he was in a _stationary shop_ at _Christmas_, it was jam packed full of families; he was safe.

"Back off." snapped Karofsky, his eyes darkening, and Kurt swallowed heavily, not letting himself being intimidated.

"No," he said calmly. "because _you_ started this conversation by coming over. _What did you want_?" Karofksy stared down at him, trying to get Kurt to back down, but Kurt just stayed, staring at his former bully.

"What's it like at _Dalton_?" he asked, spitting out the name of Kurt's new school as if it was laced with poison. Kurt pulled himself up to his full height, and glared at him.

"It's _wonderful_. If you'd kissed me there, you'd have been expelled." Karofsky went pale white, and glanced around in horror.

"Would you _shut up_!" he took a step forward, and Kurt collided with the cabinet, shoulders smacking painfully into the glass.

"Is there a problem?" both teenagers jumped as the manager appeared from nowhere over Dave's shoulder.

"No, sir." said Dave, and the manager, whose label read "_Graham_", looked between them in confusion.

"Do you, um, know each other?" he asked, hesitantly, clearly picking up on the tension. There was a pause. Karofsky and Kurt made cautious eye contact before nodding. "Right, well, why don't you take this outside? You're worrying the customers." The two boys looked around, and noticed that they had managed to attract the attention of several shoppers, no doubt because of him backing into a glass fronted cabinet.

"Yes sir." Karofsky stepped back and beckoned for Kurt to follow him. Kurt stepped out of the front entrance, and looked around. He could see Finn, slumped on the bench surrounded by bags, and looking in the opposite direction. Kurt took in a sharp breath as Karofsky stepped away in the other direction, and wondered whether he could call out to Finn, but the white cord of the headphone's dashed Kurt's hopes. Karofsky gave him a come _or else_ look, and whilst he couldn't hurt Kurt himself, he could certainly do damage to the New Directions, and Kurt wasn't going to let anyone else get beaten up by Karofsky in his name.

"How do you know I'd get expelled?" he demanded, and Kurt was thrown by the question that he just stared blankly at him. They'd come to a stop inside the empty men's room, and Kurt could hear the faintest sound of passers-by going along in the corridor outside.

"Um…you're not the only arsehole in the world." Kurt knew he was pushing his luck, toeing a very thin line that could, potentially, result in Karofsky hitting him, or kissing him…for some reason Kurt wasn't sure which one was worse. Karofsky's face kept distorting and contorting strangely.

"I bet you love it there, don't you? All of you, you're fairies." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"What _point_ are you making?" he demanded because he was in _no mood_ for games. No mood for pretending to care _why_. He just wanted to go back to Finn and shopping.

"I couldn't _breathe_!" exclaimed Karfosky, suddenly. "I thought- if you went away…but it's the _same_! I can't breathe!" He clenched his hands into fists, and pressed them up against his forehead. Kurt dropped his brow into a frown, and stared at the tense, powder-keg, that was Karofsky. He was spark away from a huge explosion, and Kurt suddenly understood; in Karofsky's eyes Kurt was the only person that could help, he was the only one who knew the truth, and, deep down, Karofsky trusted him to keep it that way.

Kurt took a deep breath, closing his eyes and trying to forget that he'd told Blaine, a fact that would _definitely_ lead to Karofsky exploding in a violent manner, and wondering just how messed up was the situation that he was the only person who could help his bully, and Kurt guessed he felt like that it was his _obligation_ - as someone who had been scared and closeted - to help him. Karofsky was gay, and something Blaine had told him floated to the front of his mind;

_…"…Kurt, being gay is not easy…Keats, Charles and I are all proof of that."…_

It was something Kurt had already known, had always known, but there had been something in the way Blaine had said it. They way he'd been able to tick off three people - including himself - that had had it worse that Kurt, and Kurt could see that, in a way, what Karofsky was going through was almost worse than what Kurt had because…Karofsky _hated_ himself, and Kurt _loved_ himself, and that made all the difference in the world.

"Look, Karofsky," he said, softly and gently because Karofsky not a stable person or that reasonable. Karofsky's head, which had been hidden behind his hands, jerked upwards. Kurt tried, and failed, to give him a smile. "it's-" he broke off, trying to find the right words. "You need help." he said finally, shrugging. Karofsky opened his mouth. "_Not_ from me, though. I- I can't help, not really, 'cause I don't understand what you're going through. I can't understand why you hate yourself so much, and I _can't_ fix something when I don't know how it got broken. Understand?"

"I _can't_." said Karofsky, voice taut and tight, and constricted by all the emotions that he was fighting everyday.

"Look, I know that you're scared…Now that I'm not around to bully you can't just shrug off your sexuality the way used to, but," his face dropped into a frown suddenly. "if you were bullying me as a release, why couldn't you breathe?" Kurt looked into eyes that were filled with a desperate glint, and saw that, somewhere in there, Karofsky knew. He knew _everything_, but he was too scared to admit it. So it was up to Kurt to call him out, again.

Kurt tried to think logically, and rationally, and not panic about the unusual lack of people in the toilet because that was just _so_ not a good idea. When had he felt like he couldn't breathe? When had he felt something weighing down on him so much that he just needed to vent, just needed a release. When had he ever tried to push something away because he couldn't deal with it, or because he couldn't control, and he knew it was never going to happen.

And it was as he thought through all of those things, and his mind brought him back to the same thing, that he finally understood what Karofsky had been trying to say - what he almost should have really already known - and he felt his heart plummet.

"You like me?" he asked, voice breathless, mouth dry and whole being just _begging_ for the answer to be no. "You actually _like_ me? You _still_ like me, and the feeling's not going away, and-" Kurt broke off, understanding rushing through him. "You _want_ me, and when you finally figured it out you couldn't deal with it and so pushed me around and away and made sure _no one_ - not even yourself - would consider the idea! And when you kissed that was just you being angry, and wanting me to shut up, and you not being able to say you were gay out loud, or just wanting to know for sure if you were gay, but…that was something you'd wanted to do for a long time…"

A heavy silence hung over them. Kurt's heart was thumping, painfully hard, in his chest. He was frightened beyond belief, but there was also a dead weight sinking inside of him. A sort of…sadness was settling down on his insides because no one had ever _wanted_ him before…not even his relationship with Keats really classified as that… He was also dead scared because Karofsky looked like he could just flip out at any second.

"Kurt, you- you like me too, right?" Kurt stared at Karofsky in opened mouthed shock. He wasn't sure what shocked him more; him openly acknowledging his sexuality like that, or he thought that there was _any_ possibility his feelings were reciprocated.

"What?" he eventually questioned. "What could have _possibly_ given you that idea?" Karofsky stared at him, eyes impossibly wide.

"You didn't tell."

"Because I don't believe in outing people! I might have been terrified of you _killing_ me, but I wasn't going to _out_ you!"

"You really thought I was going to kill you?" Kurt stared at Karofsky incredulously, not sure whether that question had really needed to be asked.

"_Yes_ I believed you! I was _meant_ to believe you!" Karofsky took a step towards Kurt, and then faltered.

"But I-I thought that you'd maybe- I thought you knew I wouldn't hurt you." Kurt let out a noise someone between disbelief and frustration.

"You _don't_ understand! You may not have _physically_ harmed me, but you _emotionally traumatised me_! I had to _run for my life_! When I got to Dalton, was it easy? _No_! I was on edge, I was mistrustful, and when some other _fucking guy_ decided to kiss me in _the locker rooms_ he was _expelled_ and I finally, _finally_, felt safe! But you know what, that other guy had his reasons! He was a kid whose parents messed him up, but _you_- you just did it because you're a scared, _selfish_, little boy!"

Kurt didn't know what had happened, but he just felt all his anger at Karofsky explode out of him, just like in the locker rooms. He was angry with Karofsky for being stupid and thinking that Kurt could possibly like him, and he was angry because Karofsky was making him feel guilty when Karofsky had no right to make him feel guilty after he had _threatened Kurt's life_. Kurt knew that exploding like that was what had tipped Karofsky over the edge the first place. He knew that he'd just done something incredibly stupid, but he almost couldn't bring himself to care. He'd been feeling upset since he realised none of the Dalton boys wanted to talk to him, and this had been the perfect release.

He suddenly knew that the smartest thing that he could do in this situation was to just walk away. Kurt was no help to Karofsky whilst he was angry and tired, and Kurt was endangering himself by staying in the bathroom. There was something wrong, people should be coming in and out, and Kurt didn't want to spend another _minute_ around Karofsky. Kurt might feel sorry for him, and, now, be worried about his dangerously unstable emotional state, but he needed to be safe.

He put his hands up in the gesture of a surrender, and, stupidly, turned his back on Karofsky. He barely took half a step forward before Karofsky had grabbed him by the shoulder, and spun him around. Kurt's lower back collided, painfully, with the edge of the sink counter. He threw his arms out, wide, exposing his chest, to steady himself. Karofsky stood over him, fist raised, and, as Kurt breathed shallowly and heavily, a tense silence descended upon them.

Kurt wasn't sure what was going to happen to him, whether Karofsky was going to actually punch Kurt this time, or just kiss him again. He tightened his grip on the counter top, and just waited for whatever blow, physical or emotional, to descend upon him. He tried not to panic, and he tried not to wonder, and he tried, _really tried,_ to stay calm.

"Just _fucking_ shut up!" yelled Karofsky, his fist lowering. "Why don't you _ever_ shut up?" Kurt paused for a second, before giving a reply in a low, calm, voice.

"Because the more you shout, the more people hear you! I found people who listened, and more than that; they _cared_!"

"This your school? Well, where are they, Kurt?" Kurt looked at him in shocked confused.

"They- they don't live in this state." he replied, as calmly as he could.

"But they'd all come rushing to beat me up if I _touched_ you?" Kurt opened his mouth to say yes, but then stopped himself because he wasn't sure they _would_. Kurt knew that they were fully capable of getting into fights, but they seemed to have a strong desire for no violence now…They wouldn't touch anyone in school, but would they mind if it was outside of school? Would they even _know_ because they didn't seem to want to read his e-mails?

"You should come back to McKinley. _They_ got into fights for you."

"What are you going to do? Hit me because you're such a _man_."

"_Don't_-"

The door flew open. Both their heads spun around to see who was in the entrance. Finn was standing there, red faced and worried looking. Kurt could feel waves of relief rolling through him, until he saw the angry look flash into Finn's eyes.

"Get the _hell_ away from my brother, _Karofsky_!" he snarled, advancing on the large Footballer. Karofsky looked between Kurt and Finn, like a cornered animal, and then lunged at Finn. Catching both of them by surprise he snatched Finn by the head, and bashed it against the countertop. Kurt let out a scream as Finn slid down, cracking his head against the tiled floor. Karofsky was running from the bathroom before Kurt could say or do anything to stop him, but there was the sound of dashing feet around outside, and confused voices.

"_Finn_!" he gasped, dropping down to his step-brother's side, and turning him over, scared by the blood that was coming from his head. "_Finn_!" he shook him frantically as another shopper came running in. He took in the scene, and pulled out his phone instantly. Kurt wasn't paying him that much attention, though, as the fact that Finn was unconscious began to sink into him.

"What happened, son?" but Kurt was too scared and worried to listen to the man that was trying to help him. Finn had just dived in and got himself hurt. Karofsky had rammed his head against the counter without a second thought. Karofsky was more unstable than Kurt had thought. Kurt had misjudged the situation. He'd been sure that Karofsky wouldn't start a fight. This was his fault.

* * *

Blaine wasn't sure what to think about the situation that he was in. He was currently sitting, maybe a little uncomfortably, in a metal framed chair with a wicker back and seat, a foam cup of steaming coffee resting in his right hand, and his older brother, chewing nonchalantly on a cookie, opposite him.

Cooper had, to all intents and purposes, reappeared in Anderson household out of thin air. Blaine had been munching on a muffin one moment, and the next his coffee had been stolen from before him by his very much awake looking brother. He hadn't said much about his trip to New York, or what he'd done, but he had told Blaine that he thought they should go shopping together because Cooper didn't know what to buy Emily, or dad - like Blaine had any idea what to buy their father.

"Look, Coop," he began, possibly a little tentatively. "What do you want?" Cooper raised an eyebrow, and settled himself back in his chair.

"I want to spend some time with you." Blaine snorted, looking around the shopping centre in scornful disbelief.

"Right…"

"Blaine, come on," said Cooper with a hint of frustration. "so I don't always call you back, let it go." Blaine glared at his brother.

"Cooper, I was _begging_ you to call me back, _begging_."

"You don't harp on about it to Emily."

"Because she was _there_ for me." Cooper held up his hands, eyes flashing a little bit, and Blaine sighed, wriggling in his seat, and folded his arms.

"Okay, let's cut to the chase," Cooper leant forward, moving away the little pot that contained sugar and other sachets. "I need to talk about mum." Blaine almost knocked the cup of coffee off the table in shock.

"_Mum_?" he demanded, jumping forward in his seat, frown dropping onto his face.

"I've met her." Blaine felt his face slacken. Cooper had _met_ their _mum_! Blaine kind of knew that Cooper had been _looking_ for their mother because Blaine would be doing the same, if you're in the same town then it was only natural.

"Do you- are you _serious_?" he asked, feeling his chest rising and falling a little bit faster in expectation, and worry. Cooper nodded.

"Yeah, _God_ yeah." Blaine didn't know what to say. He felt shocked to his very core. He hadn't seen or heard from his mum in ten years. He had moved on. He barely thought about her. He'd replaced her with Emily. How could she just _turn up_ like that?

"Well, um, is she…is she _okay_?" Cooper looked at his little brother as if he was mad, and Blaine knew that the question he'd asked wasn't the most obvious, or important, but Blaine couldn't think of anything else to say. Then Cooper shrugged.

"Not- not really." Blaine felt his eyes widen in horror and shock. Their mum, who had walked out on a comfortable family life in Ohio with two children who adored her into a life she obviously thought would be better, wasn't "_okay_".

"What does that mean?" he demanded, leaning forward, forgetting all about how he had been uncomfortable in his brother's presence a couple of minutes again. Cooper sighed.

"Emily told you about me stealing money from dad, right?" Blaine nodded, furrowing his brow in confusion as to the relevance of that. Cooper sighed. "Her and Adrian are in a ton of debt, they're homeless…they live in my flat." he explained, morosely. Blaine shook his head, not quite believing that.

"What- what happened?" Cooper shrugged, shaking his head in a rather tired looking manner.

"Things just didn't work out, you know how it is." Blaine bit down on the inside of his lip, mind racing. Their mum was _back_. More than that she was living _with Cooper_.

"_When_?" he demanded suddenly because Emily had told him about Cooper stealing from dad only just over a week after the concert, _but_ Cooper had been at home for a long time before that. Cooper shifted looking marginally guilty. "_When did you meet mum_?" he demanded, voice strained from suppressed anger and frustration. "_When did she come back_?" Cooper ran a hand over his mouth, looking on edge and worried.

"August." he said, quietly. Blaine stared at him, mouth open and eyes wide. He felt something sinking inside of him as he began to comprehend that statement.

_August_

The word rung around his head, battering the inside of his skull, and still not quite comprehended by his brain. Then he began to feel something moving up his throat. A feeling of overwhelming nausea, but he wasn't sick, he was _angry_. So angry that he wanted to throw up…? That was new.

"_August_!" he finally yelled out, fists clenching, and fighting the urge to knock the table over and rage and storm and cry because Cooper had _no right_ to keep something as important as that from Blaine. No right at all!

"Look, Blaine, I had my reasons-"

"_What reasons_?" Cooper leant forward, hands pressing down onto Blaine's shoulders to get him to stay seated. His face was close to Blaine's, eyes boring into each others, and Blaine kept breathing as calmly as he could.

"She didn't want you to know that she was in trouble." he said, calmly, voice low, and looking around at the couple of people that were giving them odd looks. Blaine glared back at his big brother.

"What does _that_ mean?" he spat out, and Cooper swallowed, heavily.

"She didn't want you to know that she was homeless because she didn't want you to feel like this was in anyway your fault, or for you to tell dad." Blaine swallowed, a couple of tears pricking his eyes for no real reason.

"I don't understand, Coop, we missed her _so_ bad…now she's just back, and- and she doesn't want me, _again_?"

"No, Blaine, it's not that simple…Blaine, I didn't want either of you to feel…awkward, or anything…you and Emily…I haven't explained that yet…I don't know how." Cooper let go of Blaine's shoulders and shrugged, sighing. "I don't want either of you to get hurt, again…Look, Blaine, I feel like _shit_ doing this, but I don't like mum and Adrian in my _house_. I don't mind them around, but Adrian's so friggin' full of himself, and he's convinced that it wasn't _his_ fault that he can't provide for mum." Blaine rolled his eyes because Cooper ranting about someone being full of themselves always sounded incredibly hypocritical.

"Okay, and…?" Blaine shrugged, clearly asking what Cooper wanted from him. Cooper sighed.

"I need money, Blaine," and Blaine frowned in confusion because Cooper had a lot of money. "and I _know_ that I have money, Blaine, but I'm- I'm not as rich as I've been telling dad, okay?" he glanced around, nervously. "I just wanted dad to, you know, stop and think for a little bit, but he didn't listen."

"He never does," muttered Blaine, looking at him in sympathy. "But Coop I don't-" he broke off, feeling some form of panic beginning to clog his chest. "Coop, I _can't_." Cooper frowned at him.

"What about that savings account that dad gave you? Don't you have, like, $320 in there?" Blaine slid his hand into his trouser pocket, touching his wallet and feeling a swooping sensation of fear and panic.

"I can't, Coop, I told- I _promised_ Oz that he could have it." Cooper frowned at his brother in confusion, and then snorted in frustration.

"What does _he_ need it for?" Blaine sighed, swallowing, and glancing around before lowering his voice.

"He wants to get Garth out. He reckons he needs money for lawyers to get Garth out, and I promised him that he could have money from me. I agree with him, Garth needs to leave before he suffocates." Cooper looked somewhere between anguished and frustrated.

"Blaine, I'm _your_ _brother_, and I am _asking _you to do this for _our_ _mother_." Blaine shook his head because it wasn't that simple.

"Coop, Garth's like my brother, and when I needed someone he was _there_, but where was mum? Coop she _left us behind_! She left dad because she couldn't _stand_ him, but she was had absolutely no qualms about leaving _us_ there!" Blaine could feel all his old frustrations bubbling up from where he had kept them quashed for so long. "And why is she only talking to you _now_? You've been around for _years_, but she's only meeting you when she _needs_ something! Doesn't that seem the _least_ bit suspicious to you?"

Cooper slapped him, hard, around the face. Blaine almost toppled from his chair. A hand flew to his cheek which stung painfully. The tears had built up in his eyes, and threatened to spill over his tired lids. Cooper was frozen. He looked like he couldn't quite believe what he'd just done. Not even their father, in all his anger about Cooper's career and Blaine's sexuality, had ever laid a _finger_ on any of the people in his family. _Ever_.

Blaine leapt to his feet. There was a strange feeling of panic coursing through his veins. He almost knocked his chair over in his desire to get away because in his experience anyone who had ever hurt himself was not to be trusted, and people never just punched you once. Once they started hurting you they never seemed to stop. Not until they were endangered themselves.

"_Blaine_!" Cooper yelled, but Blaine was running out of the café, and into the rest of the shopping centre. "Blaine, _stop_! Blaine, _I'm sorry_!" Blaine was running, though, and he was already onto the streets, dashing away from his brother. He just needed to get away from him. He just needed to be away. He needed to be safe. He needed to be _alone_. He needed-

"Blaine?" Blaine ran slap bang into a person, and backed up hastily, slipping and sliding on the slushy grit that covered the pavement. Looking up he felt his heart stop beating for a second. He was frozen in shock and fear.

"_Matt_?" he began to back away, even as his eyes began to understand that his old friend was standing slap bang in front of him. "_Damien_?" he noticed the other boy, and felt panic overwhelm the burning feeling in his muscles, and the cold on his face and fingers. The two Footballers looked at each other.

"Blaine, you better run." said Matt, a frown on his face, glancing over his shoulder.

"Blaine, _run_!" hissed Damien, also glancing over his shoulder. Blaine frowned at the boy that had partaken in beating him and his best friend up.

"_Blaine_!"

"Sorry, did you say _Blaine_?" Greg and Holt came walking towards them from where they'd been throwing snowballs at an elderly lady on the other side of the road. Matt sighed, looking at the ground, and Damien rolled his eyes to the sky in frustration.

"Anderson," Holt's voice was smooth, oily, and ever so cold. "it's been a long time." Blaine nodded, stepping backwards, fully aware that his family had gotten Barnaby expelled. Damien and Greg had been suspended, but Barnaby had been expelled…

"Going somewhere?" demanded Greg, striding over to him, and catching his arm because Blaine knew that running was futile.

"Not- not _really_."

"Blaine, we need to have a chat," said Holt, bending down and going right into Blaine's face. "about you getting me _expelled_." Blaine trembled from fear, and Matt reached forward, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Barn, not _here_, someone might _see_."

"Matt's right," said Damien nodding. "you can't afford to get in anymore trouble." In a swift movement Barnaby had thrown Damien into a lamppost, and then was right in the other boy's face.

"What are you saying about my family?" he snarled, and Damien held up his hands in a surrender.

"Dude, it's just an expression, chill." Holt let go of him, and spun around, punching Blaine right in the face. Blaine nearly fell over, but Greg held him up, twisting his arms behind his back, and allowing Holt to reign a series of punches down on him.

"You _fucking_ got me _expelled_!" he snarled. "You fucked up my _life_ you fucking _fag_!" He kicked Blaine between the legs, and Blaine lowered his bloodied face in pain. His head was swimming, and he could barely feel fear through all his pain. Greg was still twisting his arms backwards, and Blaine was scared that it might become dislocated.

"_Holt_!" yelled Matt or Damien - Blaine couldn't tell the difference anymore. "_Stop_! _Someone might see_!"

"Are you on the _fag's _side?" he demanded.

"_What_? No!"

"Than _help_ me! He got you suspended!" There was a silence, and a blissful moment when the pain began to diminish slightly. Then the crunch of feet on the snow.

"Alright." A fist smashed into nose, and his head flopped backwards.

"Guys, _please stop_! Forget _school_, you could be arrested! He's going to tell!" Blaine screamed as his arm was ripped from it's socket by Greg, and it garnered a sick laugh from the two twisted teens.

"No, he wont." Even through the pain and blood, Blaine somehow managed to see the blade of a flick-knife glint in the weak sun. He felt sick. Holt was going to _murder_ him. He squeezed his eyes shut, and then he felt a wave of calm understanding pass over him. He was going to die because he'd ruined someone's life. A couple of tears slid down his cheeks. He guess he probably deserved it. His lip twitched as he bowed his bloody head, and felt the cold blade of the knife being pressed against his throat. He was too tired to beg.

"_Barnaby_!" screamed Matt, and there was a scuffle and then a cry of pain. More blood spattered onto the white snow. Blaine was cold all over.

"Sebastian…" he whispered under his breath. He really wanted to see Sebastian again. Wanted to say goodbye.

_Two strong arms wrapped around him…_

_Blaine hugged him back for once trying to offer comfort…_

_"Bastian, please tell me what's wrong? I thought you were okay…"_

_"I learnt something about myself, Blaine; I don't care about many people, but the ones I do I can't cope with loosing…Don't ever make me loose you…I'd never stand it…"_

"Sorry…" he slurred out as he felt the sharp edge press harder against his skin.

"_Barnaby_…" came a warning tone. "Matt's right…we shouldn't- we can't-" Blaine collapsed over the knife as Greg suddenly let go of him, backing away. Barnaby retracted his arm, cutting through Blaine's skin. Blaine fell into the snow, bleeding from his neck.

"_He ruined my life_!"

"You can't _murder_ him! Beat him up, _yeah_, he deserves that, but _murder_! We'll get _life_!"

"Everything will be _more_ fucked up if we do!" Blaine's head was still swimming, and dark spots were appearing in his vision.

"Let's just run now! He knows not to tell! He knows if he fucks with you again you _will_ do it!"

"Let's just _run_!"

"_Now_!"

"_Blaine_?" Blaine was fading, but he was sure that that was _Cooper_… What was Cooper doing here? "_Oi_, you _fuckheads_!"

"_Run_!" There were pounding feet and swearing, and Blaine felt two hands turn him over as he struggled to stay conscious.

"_Blaine_! _Blaine_! _Fuck_! _Stay with me_! _Stay with me brother_!"

"C-C- te- te-" he couldn't speak. He couldn't form a word properly. He felt dizzy. Sick. Tired.

Everything went black.

* * *

_I was only this scared once before, and that was when I was waiting for news on my dad after his heart attack. I hate hospitals. They're too clean, and they smell odd. I'm holding it together, but only because the paramedic was encouraging. He said he was going to be okay, but I don't know…Head wounds are **really** dangerous…Everyone knows that…Brain damage and everything…If anything serious happens I'm not sure if I'll be able to forgive myself…We were getting along so well…_

"_Kurt_!" Kurt looked around, taking his hand away from his mouth, and all but ran towards Carole who was dashing towards him, looking petrified. She wrapped her arms tightly around him, and Kurt hugged her back. "It's okay, sweetie," she said, maybe for her own benefit as well. "We're going to be okay."

"Kurt?" Kurt looked up at his dad, and straight into his angry, serious, face. "You're okay?" Kurt nodded, looking slightly annoyed with his concern for Kurt.

"I'm _fine_! I'm not hurt at all!"

"Has anybody said anything?" asked Carole, looking understandably worried for her son. Kurt shook his head, and Burt slipped an arm around her waist, guiding her to a seat.

"What happened, Kurt?" he demanded, and Kurt took a deep breath, trying to get his head together.

"I was- I went into a stationary shop, and I-" he broke off. He needed to tell them the truth, and Finn would tell them everything when he woke up - _if_ he woke up, and _if_ he remembered - because he wouldn't understand why Kurt would want to keep it quiet.

"It was Karofsky," he said in a tired voice. Burt stiffened, and Carole let out a little moan, reaching over to hold his hand. "He was working in the shop and he came over."

"Did he threaten you?" demanded Burt, and Kurt shook his head, and then stopped, trying to find the right words without telling them what Karofsky had done.

"No, not _exactly_, he just- we had this argument about me being gay, and then he asked me what it was like at Dalton, and…I don't know it was really weird…but his manager came over and told us to take it outside, and I just-" he broke off shrugging. "I just followed…he didn't threaten me _out loud_, but…" Kurt sighed. "He was just- I saw it in his eyes…" he shrugged, knowing that he sounded stupid and foolish.

"Where was Finn?" demanded Burt, narrowing his eyes and furrowing his brow in confusion. "I thought you were shopping _together_." Kurt sighed.

"I went to get Keats a present, and he was tired…I left him on the bench. I told him I'd be back in twenty minutes, and he put his iPod in. The bench was facing the other way…" Kurt shrugged. "He couldn't see me, and…it was weird, but he took me into a toilet, and no one was there, and he just started…I don't know…"

"Did he threaten you?" Kurt shook his head.

"No, he- he said that he thought I knew he wouldn't _hurt_ me because he hadn't hit me so far, or something like that." Kurt shrugged because he couldn't explain what had happened without telling his dad about the kiss. "I turned to walk away and he grabbed me and shoved me into the counter, and I don't know what he was going to do…he started demanding to know where the Dalton boys were, and whether they'd beat him up, and then Finn came in…I don't know how he knew where we were, but he did." he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "He told Karofsky to get away from me, and he was just walking towards him, and then Karofsky just grabbed him and smashed his head against the sink counter, and ran. Finn's head hit the floor, and I screamed. Someone rushed in, and called an ambulance."

There was a long silence in which Kurt took some steadying breaths, and tried to think about how he was going to explain to Finn what had been going on. He supposed he could tell his step-brother the truth, but Kurt wasn't sure that Finn would be able to keep it a secret, and he highly doubted Finn would understand any of it. Carole sniffed loudly, composing her face into one of steady calm, and Burt fumed, face dropped into a frown, as if he knew that his son had not been entirely honest with him.

After a couple of minutes in this uncomfortable silence, in which everyone was sucked deeply into their thoughts, worries and emotions, Burt got to his feet. Kurt looked up, warily, at his father, and Carole jumped when his hand slipped from between hers.

"I'm calling the police," he snapped, and Kurt felt his eyes widen from horror.

_No! That's the **last** thing we need._

"Dad!"

"Son, nothing gives that kid the right to go around and terrorise you, and he _certainly_ can't get away with just attacking Finn like that!" Kurt opened his mouth, to argue, but knew that it was futile because he knew that angry look in his dad's eye - he'd seen it before, when his dad had first found out about Karofsky - and guessed that Karofsky was lucky he wasn't in the vicinity because his dad would probably punch him, or something.

"But, dad, what if he attacks someone again?" Kurt leapt to his feet as his dad pulled out his phone, feeling desperate. "He's- he's not-" Kurt tried not to feel scared, but he was. It was okay for Kurt, he didn't think Karofsky _could_ hurt him and he was at Dalton, but Karofsky had _smashed_ Finn's head against the sink _without a second thought_. Karofsky was dangerous! Kurt couldn't risk that.

"Kurt," his dad rested both hands on his son's shoulders. "you've got to trust me on this. Maybe if we get him arrested he'll be thrown out of McKinley, and you and Finn will be safe." Kurt bit his lip because that was all speculation, and they couldn't be sure. McKinley let _a lot_ of things slide.

"Dad, I don't think that's true," he said, quietly, thinking of Puck and juvie. "Puck went to juvie, and he's still at McKinley… I don't think that they care that much. I mean, it's not like Puck had a good record or good grades or good _anything_…" In fact, the more Kurt stopped and thought about it, Puck and Karofsky were remarkably similar, except of course the whole sexuality thing, and Puck had the New Directions to educate him and set him straight. He ought to have remembered, of course, because Puck had tossed him in dumpsters and bullied him _badly_, but after dancing and singing with him, Kurt had learnt to see him in a new light.

Burt removed his hands form Kurt's shoulders at that, looking suddenly more worried, and Kurt guessed that Burt hadn't really been aware of what had happened to Puck, it had been immediately after his heart-attack, and when Sam had joined the Glee club so they'd been talking about other things. He could see that Burt hadn't factored the idea that McKinley was such a crap school that they'd have no problems letting Karofsky stay there.

"God damnit!" he swore under his breath. "I still want to call the police, Kurt, because what he's done is _assault_." Kurt looked nervously at Carole who just looked worried for her son. "But, maybe," he ran a hand over his head, and Kurt knew that his dad hated not being able to take immediate action to put a stop to what was happening.

The curtain moved, however, before Burt could say anything more, and a doctor stepped out. He looked stressed, but there was nothing to indicate that Finn was in any serious danger, or so Kurt hoped. Burt stepped over to take Carole's hand, and Carole placed a hand on Kurt's shoulder for comfort and support. They were all connected, part of a closed circuit of worry, desperation and hope, and Kurt felt - just in that second - that they were a _family_.

"He looks like he's going to be fine." said the doctor in a remarkably calm voice. "There was no fracture to the skull, and the wounds were mainly superficial. He lost a bit of blood, but there's been no need for a IV or transfusion. He's unconscious, but, with any luck, he should come around soon. Don't expect him to be completely with it at the beginning, he's likely to have a concussion, and his memory around the time of the incident may be a little vague. It could come back and it could not. The best thing to do is not push him. Try to keep him without stress for a few days. He'll likely have a headache. If anything comes up; vomiting, lack of stability, those type of things, bring him back in." Burt nodded, taking in all the information.

"But he's going fine?" he asked, just for clarification. The doctor gave them a small smile.

"He should be fine. Err, does he play sport?" There was a round of nodding. "Football?" he guessed, and there were more nods. "Be careful with that. He'll have a helmet, obviously, but just keep him away from any kind of contact sport for the rest of the holiday." There was a lot more nodding.

_Oh sweet mercy! My knees feel a little bit weak. I knew that he was going to be okay, but at the same time…You can just never tell. Hospitals are horrible like that. You get stuck in a building where people are dying and there's nothing people can do, and you just start thinking…_

"Can we go in and see him?"

"Of course." They all moved into the little room where Kurt saw Finn, lying rather peacefully he thought, in a white hospital bed. He had the covers drawn up to his chest, and his head was wrapped in a white bandage. There was a clip on his finger, and Kurt wasn't entirely sure what it was doing, but it looked like it was hooked up to something.

Kurt breathed out a sigh of relief. There was one thing hearing a doctor say it, and completely another to see him lying there, almost like he was asleep. Kurt moved to the side of the bed. Carole hurriedly moved to the chair, taking her son's hand and wiping her eyes. Burt folded his arms, staring down the bed at his step-son and Kurt wasn't really sure he knew what his dad was thinking. Kurt sincerely hoped his dad wasn't going to get mad at Finn for allowing Karofsky to manhandle him away, not when Finn had dashed in and gotten hurt.

Kurt's phone beeped in his pocket, and he jumped a little. He'd sent out a mass text to all the New Directions telling them what had happened, and he had received lots of different messages back; ones of shock, anger, frustration, worry… Rachel had sent a very long one about how, in case anything happened, she needed to tell Finn how she really felt about him which had caused Kurt to roll his eyes. Puck, on the other, hand just sent him two words; _I'm coming_, and it was him that was texting Kurt now.

"Puck's here." he said, and Carole nodded, looking up with relieved, yet tearful, eyes. He slipped out, and moved down to the entrance of the hospital. Puck was standing there, hands thrust into his jean's pockets, and looking angry. He spotted Kurt, and he nodded at him, dodging his way through the people to his side.

"Alright, Kurt?" he asked, eyeing Kurt up and down, and Kurt knew that it wasn't a throw away question; he was genuinely concerned for Kurt's well-being. Kurt nodded.

"Yes, fine, Karofsky didn't lay a finger on me, not really." Puck nodded, and followed Kurt as they began to walk back to Finn's bed.

"What happened, I mean…why the hell did he attack Finn?" Kurt swallowed, meeting Puck's angry eyes.

"I think he was scared that Finn was going to attack him, or tell on him or something…I think he wanted our conversation to be a secret." Puck nodded, but he looked confused and angry.

"God damnit!" he said pounding a fist into his hand. "What the hell has got against you? Why can't he just let it go? You're gone. Why can't he just move on?" Kurt shrugged, uncomfortably, not wanting to let on that he knew more.

"I think- I think he's-" he broke off, trying to string a sentence together that wouldn't give away. It was too much, keeping the secret, it was pressing against his skull, demanding to be set free, but Kurt _couldn't_ tell. He _just couldn't_. He suddenly realised that he needed to talk to Blaine because Blaine was the _only person_ who knew.

Puck didn't seem to mind that Kurt couldn't answer him and they just walked back to Finn's room in uncomfortable silence. Kurt got the feeling, from the way Puck's jaw was jumping ever so slightly, that he was doing his absolute best to not explode in a violent rage, for which Kurt was grateful. He simply stepped into the room after Kurt and was given a curt nod from Burt and a tearful smile from Carole. Kurt glanced at Puck and watched the way his face contorted through different stages of anger and frustration. Then he stormed from the room. It took Kurt half a second to work out what he was going to do, and chased after him.

"Puck!" he cried, dashing down the corridor. "Puck, _no_!" Kurt caught up with him and caught him by the arm. Puck was much stronger than Kurt, but Puck spun around, violently, anyway almost knocking Kurt over.

"I'm gotta teach him a lesson, Kurt! I gotta teach him not to mess with my boy Finn" I told him he was already number one on my list to go all Death Star on because he forced you out of there! He has to know that messing with _us_ comes at a price!" Kurt let out a frustrated cry; why couldn't _someone_ see that _violence_, especially with guys like Karofsky, _didn't work_?

"Puck _stop_!" he said, firmly but quiet loudly. "Just _think_! You punching Karofsky gives him the excuse to punch _back_! If you don't push him then he's in the wrong, _still_. You attacking him isn't going to do Finn any good! _Besides_, aren't you supposed to be on your best behaviour? You don't want to get sent back to juvie, do you?" Puck paused at that.

"Kurt, we need to do _something_!" he exclaimed. "This _psychopath_ is running around punching and terrorising the shit out of you! He _can't_ do that!" Kurt nodded.

"We will, okay? My dad said he was going to call the police. Don't do _anything_ to damage our chances of getting something done, alright?" Puck nodded, but he looked moody and angry. Kurt stared at him, breathing heavily, chest rising and forward. "Promise me, Puck, _please_." Puck huffed but then met Kurt's eyes.

"I promise, but when things get back to start at McKinley, I'm gonna lay down the law. No one touches the New Directions." Kurt heaved a sigh again, not sure what to say to that.

"Just don't get yourself set back to juvie, okay? Finn'll kill you." Puck nodded, and then pulled out his phone.

"Alright, I'm gonna get in touch with the guys." Kurt frowned, feeling worried.

"Why?"

"To suspend the attack. I'll make sure someone puts a leash on the she-devil." Kurt snorted.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

"Keep me posted on Finn, guy's my best friend." he nodded, putting on a tough face. "Keep yourself safe." he added as he walked away, and Kurt exhaled heavily through his nose, feeling calmer. Then he pulled out his phone, calling Blaine. The phone rang for a little while until it went through to voice mail;

_"Hey, this is Blaine Anderson. Obviously I can't talk to you right now so if you wanna leave me a message, and your number if you need to or whatever, and I'll get back to asap." _Kurt huffed, angrily, and rolled his eyes as the phone beeped.

"Hey Blaine, it's Kurt…um, something- something- Finn's been attacked…by Karofsky and I…" he closed his eyes and sighed. "I really need to talk to you…it's kind of important…yeah, just call me, _please_." he hung up and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes.

_Why is Blaine ignoring me? What did I do? I thought- we're **friends**…he hasn't wanted to contact me **all** holidays…_

Kurt stared down at his phone, and wondered whether he could call Keats. True, they were dating, but Kurt didn't particularly _want_ to tell Keats what had happened. Keats would treat Kurt like he was broken, and Kurt didn't want that to happen. He sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes.

_Why do I feel so lonely? I have so many people that I call my friends, but I have no one to turn to when I need help…_

With a sigh because he wasn't sure what else he could do, he stepped back into Finn's room. Carole glanced around and then noticed that Puck had gone.

"Where is Puck?" Kurt sighed and moved over to a chair.

"He went to stop the guys and Santana attacking Karofsky, I managed to talk him into it. I said it would do more damage." Burt nodded.

"It would," Kurt opened his mouth to speak some more, but Finn let out a mumble, head rolling from side to side. Kurt was on his feet in an instant as Finn's forehead creased up into a frown and his eyes began to blink, sluggishly, open.

"Wh…?" he said, not quite forming a word, and a heavy armed reached up to touch the bandages on his forehead. "What…? Where…?" he looked at his mum and then Kurt. "Where am I?"

"Hospital," said Carole, patting his hand. Finn frowned, touching his head again.

"What the hell happened? We were shopping and then you went off to buy something for…" he frowned harder, wincing, and screwing up his eyes. "for Keats and I…what happened…I can't- it's fuzzy."

"You got hit on the head," explained Kurt. "The doctor said you might not remember what happened."

"But how?" Kurt sighed, examining his fingers for a moment.

"It was Karofsky…I don't know how you found me, but you did and you told him to get away from me and he grabbed you and smashed your head against the sink…you hit the floor and there was quite a bit of blood and some random guy called an ambulance and the doctor says you're gonna be okay." Finn stared at him, reaching up and pressing a hand to his forehead.

"Karofsky…?" he questioned. "The shop- the manager!" he exclaimed. "I don't- you were gone!" Kurt swallowed and nodded.

"Yeah, something like that…just calm down…I'm okay…" Finn flopped down against the pillows, still frowning in confusion.

"Oh man, my head…"

"Does it hurt?" asked Carole and Finn nodded.

"Yeah, but I'll be fine, right?"

"Yes," said Carole, smiling. "you're gonna to be absolutely fine." There was a pause that Kurt couldn't quite take. He wasn't sure what was wrong, but he _needed_ someone and he didn't have anyone to turn to. No one except Blaine…

He stepped out of the room and called Blaine again. He got the same voicemail and he wasn't sure whether to bother leaving a message, but did anyway;

"Blaine, it's me again…I _really _need to talk to about Karofsky…it's about what happened, and I- I can't think of who else to turn to…I don't know who else understands…Please, _please_, call me." he hung up and stared at his phone, willing it to ring.

Slowly, with great caution and because there was no one else there and Keats really ought to be the person that he turned to first but wasn't - _couldn't be _in this case - Kurt dialled Keats' number. He wasn't sure what to say, but reminded himself that Keats was, also, unequivocally, the person by his side. Kurt listened to it ring and then heard someone pick up.

_"Hey Kurt,"_ said Vince and Kurt rolled his eyes to ceiling. _"give me a sec…Keats, your boyfriend is- ow!"_ He heard a loud crash in the background and frowned.

"Um, hello Vince, is Keats there?"

_"Yeah, just give us one- oh, **Jesus**, Keats no!" _Kurt continued to frown in confusion.

"Are you guys okay?"

_"Yes! Almost! Give me one second…**Keats**, get your arse over here! Your boyfriend wants you!" _Kurt could hear some indistinct mutterings in the background - Kurt guessed that it was Keats - and then another crash. _"He'll be with you in one moment,"_ said Vince and Kurt faked a smile, for no real reason, and replied;

"Okay…" There was another crash, a clatter and then a bang, and finally Keats voice rang over the line;

_"Hey Kurt, are you okay?" _Kurt sighed, wondering why that was Keats' first question before anything else, but just shook it away.

"No, not really…I mean- I'm _fine_ physically, but emotionally…" he trailed off as he heard another clatter in the background. "What _on earth_ are you doing?" he demanded, and he heard Keats laugh and say something to Vince.

_"To cut a long story short; we're trying to move all the things that we think we need to live with into the **very** cluttered attic of Vince's house…"_

"I see…" he said in mild confusion. "Are you doing that for any particular reason?"

_"Trying to get away from our parents,"_ he could all but heard Keats rolling his eyes as he said that and found himself feeling not at all calmed by this news.

"Why?"

_"They're pissing us off, but what the hell's happened to you? You sound a little bit shaken." _Kurt was amazed that Keats had managed to pick up on that - he didn't think he sounded that bad.

"It was Karofsky…" he said, slowly.

_"**Karofsky**!" _he heard a clatter and then a questioned _"What? Is he okay?" _from Vince. He heard Keats shushing him before he spoke again._ "Jesus, how did he find you?" _Kurt sighed.

"I was in a shop where he was working part-time over Christmas…I was actually trying to buy you a present…that didn't work out so well…" He heard Keats chuckle.

_"I hear you there…I was trying to buy you a present when Andy calls me up speaking gibberish and it takes me and Vince two hours to calm him down and what I wanted to get you is gone!" _Kurt snorted and felt himself relax.

"Right…"

_"So, Karofsky, what did he do to you? What did he want?" _Kurt let out a long sigh.

"I don't really know…I think he wanted to talk about being-" Kurt broke off, kicking himself as he'd almost let out the secret.

_"Talk about him being what?" _asked Keats and Kurt was mentally kicking himself very, _very_ hard for the slip.

"About him being, you know, my bully and everything…" it was a lame excuse, and it didn't quite fit with what he'd been saying previously, but he reckoned Keats had bought it…_just_.

_"Right…"_ said Keats, sounding suitably confused. _"did he, you know, threaten to kill you again?"_ Kurt shook his head before remembering they were on the phone.

"No, it was really weird…it was like he wanted to talk to me, but he couldn't…he's kind of scared and frightened and he's lashing out…he hurt Finn, that's where I am now, in the hospital."

_"Christ," _murmured Keats. _"your step-brother alright?"_ Kurt let out a long sigh before smiling.

"Yes, he's going to be fine…" He could hear Keats nodding over the other end of the line.

_"Do you want to talk about it or do you want me to talk?" _Kurt frowned.

"What do you mean?"

_"Do you want me to distract you?" _Kurt let out a sigh before nodding.

"Yeah, that sounds good," he said with a smile. "That sounds _really_ good, actually."

Kurt let Keats talk to him for a good _hour_ about what had happened to him, Vince and Stuart during the holidays. It seemed that, with the exception of Andy, they all lived in the same area, but Parker had ended up in New York with his grandparents. From the sounds of it the three boys spent most of their time sneaking out of the house and finding ways to aggravate their parents. So far, Stuart had super-glued his parents to their chairs and clothes, replaced all the light bulbs in their house with blown ones and buttered the floor. Vince had been changing the clocks and replacing their work with crayon drawings of ethnic minorities and gay people, and Keats had spray-painted rainbows all over his house.

Carole left the room just before Kurt hung up on Keats, mouthing the word "_bathroom_" at him and Kurt had nodded, not really needing to know where she'd gone. Vince had shouted down the phone about someone, Kurt couldn't quite hear properly, and Keats had sworn, loudly, and said that they needed to hide. Kurt, rolling his eyes, had said goodbye to Keats, feeling quite a bit better, and hung up on him. He got up from where he'd been sitting and moved back to Finn's bed, stopping outside when he heard what Finn was saying.

"So, you're not mad at me for letting Karofsky get him?" Kurt tensed up waiting for his dad's response because if his dad said that he was then Kurt was going to have to give him a _serious_ talking to.

"No," he said, and Kurt could hear Finn's sigh of relief as Kurt deflated. "I mean, I can't pretend that I'm not annoyed that Karofsky got to him, but…I know it wasn't your fault."

"Oh, good…'cause…I don't know…kind of feels like it…"

"Nah, the chances of runnin' into him are pretty small. It was damned unlucky, and his fault for _forcing_ Kurt to come with him…How'd you find 'em?" Kurt cocked his ear at that, curious, but he could hear Finn exhaling heavily, and tilting his head slightly and shuffling closer, he could just about see him shaking his head.

"I don't know…I can't quite remember…"

"Either way, I have to admit that I'm kind of proud of you kid."

"Really?" Kurt felt a little bit of his heart go out to Finn at that. He sounded so pleased and surprised and happy. It had never really occurred to him, but Burt and Finn had been on _terrible_ terms and hadn't spoken until the wedding. It was a little bit odd, and Kurt had never really thought about how their relationship was because his dad wasn't exactly inclined to forgiving and forgetting, especially not as far as Kurt went.

"Yeah, it's not been a year, but you've- you've changed a lot." He saw Finn shrug.

"It's all Kurt, he's great!" Burt shook his head.

"People don't change their views easily, Finn." He saw Finn pause.

"I think…I didn't-" he shrugged. "I mean, Kurt's such an _inspiration_, right? I mean, I don't understand how he does it. It's like he doesn't care what people think about him. I mean…It's all…I mean, I _care_ what people think of me, like _a lot_, but I don't…" he shrugged again. "I don't get it…it's like, I'd _like_ to not care, but I can't…" he shrugged again, smiling sheepishly. Kurt looked at Finn, smiling. He had no idea that Finn saw him like that. Burt reached over and pulled Finn up a bit, their hands gripping each other's wrists and clapped him on the shoulder.

"You did good, son, you just rest and fix that head of yours in time for the Championship game, eh?"

"Oh my god! I can't miss that!"

"Lie down!" Laughing, Kurt re-entered the room. He took a seat and just smiled as Carole stepped back inside, looking far better than she had when she'd first arrived at the hospital.

_If Blaine calls me back, and I never have to see Karofsky again, than I just might be okay with this whole situation. It could be better, but I know it could be a whole lot worse…The only thing that I can't get out of my head is what he said about McKinley and them getting into fights for me. The Dalton boys don't seem to settle it that way, at all. Keats was concerned, but he wasn't…There were no threats or anything…It was kind of…I don't know…I might just be over thinking…I mean I **know** they can get violent, but maybe it's just about certain things…I don't know…It shouldn't matter…_

* * *

Blaine felt really groggy. He had an urge to close his eyes again and curl up and fall back asleep. His throat hurt. There was a buzzing noise around him. Was that talking? He felt disconnected from the world. _Disorientated_.

"…_Blaine_…" he turned his head, feeling the pressure of something against his neck. It wasn't hard or painful. Kind of soft, actually. His neck hurt, not his throat. "_Blaine_!" It sounded like Sebastian and he smiled at that because he wanted it to be Sebastian, but…Sebastian was miles away. He blinked, again. He tried to sit up, but suddenly realised that his right arm was in a sling.

"Sebastian?" Sebastian appeared in his view. Green eyes were filled with worry and a little bit too close him. Things were rushing through his brain now. He was awake and he was overwhelmed. Cooper. Mum. Slap. Running. Matt. Damien. Greg. Holt. Fear. Pain. Death. Cooper. "Sebastian." His eyes filled with tears and Sebastian was on his bed, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him against his shoulder.

He sobbed, unrestrainedly. He was a complete mess of different emotions. He was scared. He was relieved. He was _very_ afraid. He was in pain. He was thankful. He was safe. Sebastian was here. He was in hospital. He was going to be okay, unless Holt found him again. _Holt_ _knew where he lived_! He was going to die! Oh God!

"Get off!" he heard Cooper snapping. "That's my brother you fu-"

"_Cooper_!"

"Alright, chill!" He felt his body collapse a little more into Sebastian's. Cooper, Emily and Oscar were here.

"Excuse me!" the bossy, harassed voice of a woman came cutting through and Blaine felt himself be rested against pillows so that he was upright. He looked up at a nurse who was staring down at him. "How do you feel?" Sebastian rolled his eyes to the ceiling and Blaine tried not to smile.

"Um…_okay_…?" he'd suddenly noticed the IV that was attached to the inside of his elbow.

"Any dizziness?" Blaine shook his head, slowly.

"No."

"Pain?"

"It's not," he swallowed. "It's not that bad."

"Good." she removed the needle from his vein, strapping a piece of cotton wool over the wool. Emily moved to his side as Sebastian held onto his hand. She took a seat on the other side of his bed to Sebastian and hugged him tightly.

"Darling, how do you feel, really?" Blaine frowned as he sat back a little bit as she smooth down his hair.

"I don't know, Emily," he said, softly. "I can't…" he looked over at Sebastian. "How- how are you here?"

"You were out for _two days_, Blaine…Emily called me the moment she got here." Blaine stared at him with a frown.

"But…why are you _here_?" Sebastian raised an eyebrow, incredulously, at him and Blaine knew that this was one of his stupid moments, but his mind was tired and disjointed and over run with irrational panic. It was like there people inside his head jumping around, going "_look at me! Hey, Blaine, panic!_" and Blaine was pretty good at listening to them.

"Blaine, someone tried to _kill_ you." he said, slowly, staring right into Blaine's eyes as if trying to drill the words into Blaine's mind. "I thought you might _die_. Don't you remember what I said?" Blaine stared at him for one second before it hit him.

…_"I learnt something about myself, Blaine; I don't care about many people, but the ones I do I can't cope with loosing…Don't ever make me loose you…I'd never stand it…"_…

"Right…" he said, swallowing and feeling choked up and overwhelmed. Sebastian had come all the way down here for him. He should have known that Sebastian would do that, but he always had his doubts. He would always have his doubts.

"Blaine," said Cooper, hurrying to his side. He took a deep breath, eyes scanning his younger brother's battered form. "Oh Blaine, I'm sorry!" Blaine nodded, tears building up in his eyes. He bit down on the inside of his lip, trying to stop them from spilling over. For once Cooper seemed to be without words, but Blaine reached up with his good arm and Cooper was quick to bend down and embrace his little brother.

"It's okay," croaked out Blaine, beginning to cry into his shoulder. "I'm okay." He heard Emily and Sebastian get off the bed, and then three pairs of feet left the room.

"Blaine!" said Cooper, somehow conveying, through that one word, all the guilt and relief and anger and fear that he felt. How he was blaming himself for hitting Blaine and causing him to run off. How glad he was that he'd found in that second. How angry he was that the bullies had got to him again when Cooper should have been with them. How scared he was if he'd come later Blaine might have been killed.

"I'm okay," he said, again, trying to convince them all that that was true. "I'm here." Cooper snorted, sending warm air ruffling up his hair.

"I'm meant to be comforting you!" he said, drawing back and resting Blaine against the raised back of the bed. "I'm sorry Blaine," he said, resting a hand very gently on Blaine's cheek. Blaine winced, a tiny bit, and knew that was where the bruise Cooper had given him was blossoming. "I shouldn't have hit you." Blaine shrugged, a single tear slipping down to his chin.

"It's okay," Cooper shook his head, face twisting with self-loathing.

"No, it's _not_ _okay_, Blaine! Not even _dad_ has laid a finger on us! In all the things that he's said and done he's _never_ hurt us! Or not physically at least." Blaine nodded because he could not argue with that.

"I know…" he said, quietly. "But Coop, the things I said about mum. I don't-" Cooper held up his hands.

"Blaine, I get it! It's okay. Don't think that those things didn't cross my mind, too." Blaine frowned at his brother who sighed. "Blaine I don't want to talk about this now, alright…You're sick, you're tired, you've just been through hell, we'll talk later, okay?" Blaine wanted to shake his head and protest, but he was really tired. He wanted to close his eyes and drop back off.

"Okay…" he said quietly. Cooper nodded and patted Blaine's good arm.

"You get some rest, little bro, and we can talk when you come back home." Blaine nodded.

"Okay…" he said in a quiet voice and his brother got up, patting his leg. "Hey, Coop," his brother turned around. "Thanks for coming for me," Cooper turned a suddenly stern eye upon his smaller brother.

"You're my brother, Blaine, my _younger _brother; that's what I'm here for." Blaine sniffed, raising his hand to rub his nose and gave his brother a small smile.

"Alright," he said, voice cracking and breaking. "I'll see you, whenever…" Cooper smiled down at Blaine.

"I'll be outside with Emily," he said. Blaine nodded and Cooper walked backwards out of the room. A moment later Sebastian came back into the room. He shut the door and flew across to Blaine's side. He wrapped his arms around Blaine, again, and this time Blaine felt safer and stronger. Sebastian kissed him, long and hard, and Blaine was so…_tired_?…_numb_?…that he couldn't feel nervous.

"Shit Blaine!" exclaimed Sebastian when they broke apart. Blaine's chest was heaving a little bit, heart beating faster but feeling all the more safer. "Shit!" Blaine felt his heart sink a little bit at that. Sebastian was rarely lost for words.

"Bastian, I…"

"Blaine, what the hell happened?" he exclaimed. "I-" Sebastian broke off, shaking his head and looking far more worried than Blaine had seen him since Barcelona…Blaine closed his eyes, sighing.

"I had a row with Cooper," he said, quietly. "It was about mum…" he looked up and saw, from Sebastian's steady gaze, that Sebastian already knew that. "We- it got out of hand and Cooper hit me." he saw a little something jump in Sebastian's jaw, his eyes darkened.

"Yes, your brother said as much." Blaine swallowed and then looked back at Sebastian.

"I ran…" said Blaine, quietly. "I just _ran_ out of there…Then I ran into Matt…Him and Damien they- they me to run, but I…" he could still feel the shock that stopped him from running. The way his mind had chugged to a stop. "I couldn't, Bastian- I just-" he broke off, choking up. "_I_ _couldn't move_!" Sebastian reached across and pressed down on his upper arms.

"It's okay, Blaine, there's no one else here but me. You trust me." It wasn't a question, but a simple statement. There was no need for any clarification, but it was what Blaine needed.

"They told me to run, but I couldn't. Then Greg and- and _Holt_ came…" he let out Holt's name in a whisper. "Greg grabbed me and Holt- Holt said we needed to talk about me getting him expelled." he closed his eyes. "He was- he was _unstable_…he beat the crap out of me…he talked Damien into hitting me…Greg dislocated my arm…he pulled out a knife…Matt told him not to and he just attacked him. The others wanted him to leave, stop…Greg let go and I fell onto the knife…They talked him out it and they run as Cooper came…"

Blaine hadn't really noticed but he'd began to cry again. He didn't feel as bad as he had, but all that fear and the certainty of death was overwhelming. Sebastian ran a hand over his face, taking Blaine's hand with his other one and squeezed it tightly.

"You're alright," he repeated, quietly. "You're safe with me." Blaine looked up at Sebastian, taking in his pale, worn, face and nodded.

"I wanted to see you…" he muttered as softly as he could. "I wanted to tell you that I loved you…" his lower lip trembled and Sebastian pulled him back into a tight embrace. He was safe and protected from harm because he had Sebastian who had done nothing but look after Blaine from the minute he came to Dalton.

"I love you too, Blaine," he said, quietly. "but you have _got_ to be more careful…You're going to turn my beautiful head of hair grey." Blaine let out a quiet laugh into his shoulder.

"Alright…I'll try," he muttered. Sebastian set him back and frowned at him, the calculating look in his eyes cutting through him. He was reading Blaine's mind and Blaine was waiting for whatever question Sebastian wanted to ask.

"There is no way for me to convince you to call the police on these people, is there?" Blaine shook his head.

"I _can't_," he whispered. "What happened last time…I can't risk it…If anything happens to Anna or Meg…I'd never be able to live with myself…" he bit down on his inside lip, the tears building up all over again.

"I thought you might say something like that…" muttered Sebastian, not even bothering to roll his eyes in annoyance or exasperation. "What happened in your row with Cooper?" Blaine wiped his eyes and chewed the inside of his lip.

"It was- it was about mum…Cooper said that mum…she's not okay…she's living with Cooper and she- she needs money…" Sebastian's face flickered with understanding and Blaine swallowed, rubbing a hand over his face. "Cooper asked me for the money in my savings account, but- but Bastian I…" he trailed off as Sebastian reached in his pocket and pulled out Blaine's wallet.

"Have already taken it out for Oscar?" guessed Sebastian with a sly grin. Blaine stared at his boyfriend with an open mouth. Sebastian chucked the wallet onto his lap. "Though, I do have to question your sanity, walking around with that much cash." Blaine stared at him.

"How did- how did you know? I didn't tell you that! I- I didn't want you to tell me I was being stupid!" Sebastian rolled his eyes at Blaine in a long suffering manner.

"Your friend seems to think that you tell me everything, which is almost true, and he mentioned it to me." Blaine bit down on his bottom lip. "So let me guess; Cooper wants you to give the money to him for your mum, and Oscar wants you to give the money to him for Garth." Blaine nodded. Sebastian narrowed his eyes in thought. "Do they know this?" Blaine moved his head from side to side in indecision.

"Cooper knows about Oscar and Garth, but Oz doesn't know about Cooper and mum." Sebastian shook his head at that.

"No, he knows, Cooper told Emily." Blaine sighed in frustration and banged his head against the pillow.

"Damn it!" he exclaimed. "I was hoping that he wouldn't find out…Now he'll never take it!" Sebastian nodded, almost absent-mindedly, and Blaine mentally crossed his fingers, hoping that Sebastian would solve his problem for him.

"If you were to split it up, say… fifty-fifty, would they bite?" Blaine shook his head emphatically.

"No, well, Oz might but Coop wouldn't, and I promised Oz first." Sebastian sighed and his face relaxed into it's cool mask as he thought through Blaine's problem carefully.

"Well…" he said, eventually, looking straight into Blaine's eyes. "I have been having some serious trouble finding you a Christmas present this year…" Blaine stared at him, blankly, not entirely sure why Sebastian had just changed the conversation so abruptly. Sebastian caught sight of his blank, nonplussed, expression and rolled his eyes, heaving an exasperated sigh.

"What?" questioned Blaine as Sebastian shook his head, smirking to himself.

"What am I going to do with you?" he questioned and Blaine just stared at him with wide eyes. Sebastian heaved another sigh. "I will be right back," he said and got to his feet. Blaine gaped at him in confusion.

"But- but- where are you going?" Sebastian winked at him.

"I'll be back in a second," was all he said and, as Blaine continued to stare at him with wide eyes, he vanished from sight. Blaine blinked a couple of times before slipping his wallet beneath the bed covers as Emily, Oscar and Cooper came back in - Sebastian was going to sort it all out for him.

"Blaine, we need to talk to the police," said Emily, sitting down on the bed and clasping her hands. Blaine shook his head, immediately, panic begin to course through him.

"Emily, I _can't_! He knows- they all know where we live! Anna, Meg!" He shook his head, furiously, not noticing the twinges of pain that it sent across his neck wound. "I can't take that risk!" Emily looked at him, a mixture of pride, exasperation, love and fear. Cooper hung his head and Oscar rubbed his hands over his eyes.

"He's right," he muttered, to himself more than anyone else. "those guys…they nearly got Caz…" he shook his head and Emily looked up at the ceiling with eyes that had filled with tears of hopelessness.

"But we can't just let them run around!" exclaimed Cooper, throwing his arms towards the heavens in frustration. "They can't _fucking_ get away with _attempted murder_!"

"I _know_!" snapped Oscar, rounding on Cooper with angry eyes.

"Then why don't you _do something_! Instead of just bitching at _me_!"

"Don't turn this on me! You still have your brother, even if you treat him like _nothing_!" Cooper snatched Oscar by the lapels of his jacket and thrust him against the wall. Emily let out a scream of shock. Blaine shot upwards.

"_Coop_!" he yelled. "_Stop_!" Cooper stared into Oscar with eyes that burned from fury. All his anger, guilt, frustration and fear was bursting out of him - just like back in the café - and he was seconds away from snapping and punching him. Oscar stared back at the older man, relaxed, unfazed and disdainful.

"Hit me," said Oscar, scornfully. "Go on and hit me," he let out a laugh, sneering at Cooper. "'Cause you're just like them all…you _poor little boy_…grow up!"

"_Cooper_!" Emily's breath hitched whilst Blaine screamed, sitting forward and straining at the blankets that were tucked so firmly down the sides of the bed that he couldn't lean forwards. Cooper's fists unclenched. He took several steps back. Oscar straightened his jacket.

"Grow up," he repeated. "This isn't about you." Cooper was staring down at his hands, blinking rapidly, as if he couldn't quite believe that he'd lost control again. Emily got to her feet with worry in her eyes.

"Lie down, Blaine," she said, softly, and Blaine did as he was told, heart beating fast. Cooper was breathing heavily, still staring at his hands. Oscar ran a hand over his face and then walked out of the room. Emily put a hand on Cooper's shoulder, guiding him out as Sebastian, looking mildly surprised, walked back in.

"Who died?" he questioned, rather blithely considering the situation as he sat back down on Blaine's bed. Blaine shook his head, rubbing his eyes tiredly and then stared at Sebastian, waiting for him to tell Blaine what he had planned. Sebastian rolled his eyes. "You can't guess?" he asked and Blaine sighed.

"I'm tired, Bastian, please tell me…" The smirk vanished in an instant.

"By "_tired_" do you mean…?" Blaine rolled his head to the side, refusing to look Sebastian in the eye, tears dancing in his own.

"I don't know, Bastian, I don't know…" Sebastian took a deep breath in and then let it out short and sharply.

"What did I tell you in Freshman year, Blaine? First day I met you, what did I say to you?" Blaine turned to look at him with a frown.

"You said a lot of things to me," Sebastian rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

"What was the _last _thing that I said to you?" Blaine let the silence hang over them as he cast his mind back to his first day at Dalton.

…_ "Blaine, Hammonds told me what you tried to do to yourself…and I don't- I don't really know what to say, but I want you to know that I'm going to do my best to give you a life that's worth living…You seem like a great guy…and we can't let your amazing voice go to waste either…"_…

"Right…" he said, turning his head to look into Sebastian's serious eyes that were very old and mature. He looked a bit pale, but, Blaine considered, he knew he'd be in a similar state if anything had happened to Sebastian.

"So," said Sebastian, calmly, as if there hadn't been an interruption about them discussing Blaine's suicidal nature. "here's the deal; I owe you one Christmas present, you need to give two guys $320 dollars each because you're too nice to say no, but you don't have that much money so…I give you…" he reached into his pocket and waved a little bundle of cash in front of Blaine's face with a smirk. He dropped it onto Blaine's lap with a grin as Blaine stared at him with wide eyes. Blaine's mouth, once he'd comprehended that the situation was real, fell open.

"Bastian…" he breathed, picking it up, shaking his head. "I couldn't- you can't- I don't…" Sebastian raised an eyebrow at him.

"Really?"

"No!" exclaimed Blaine picking it up and trying to stuff it back into Sebastian's hands. "It's not- you can't do that!" Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

"Pray, tell me why?"

"Because!" exclaimed Blaine, waving his good arm around in frustration at the fact that Sebastian didn't understand that he _couldn't_ just give Blaine _three hundred and twenty dollars_! He just _couldn't_! Sebastian gave him a sanctimonious nod.

"I rest my case." Blaine scowled at him.

"Take it back! Take the money back!" Sebastian raised an eyebrow, putting on a confused expression.

"Money, what money?" Blaine let out a frustrated growl.

"Your money." Sebastian rolled his eyes and picked up the money where Blaine had dropped it. Grabbing Blaine's good arm he closed Blaine's fingers around it.

"Do you understand the definition of a gift?" he asked, softly but very firmly. Blaine rolled his eyes and nodded in annoyance.

"_Of course_, I do, Bastian, but this…this is _too much_, okay?" Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

"How is it too much? I'm keeping you sane and well, that's kind of my job." Blaine huffed in annoyance at that and Sebastian raised my eyebrow. "Come on, we both know that that's true, and that you have no problems with it." Blaine closed his eyes in tired frustration.

"Bastian…"

"I'm not going to let you argue with me, Blaine, if you don't take it I'll flush it down the toilet." Blaine rolled his eyes and let out a long groan, not doubting Sebastian for a second. There was a knock on the door, before Blaine could start another argument, and Oscar stepped in. Sebastian gave him a pointed look before turning a pleasant face on Oscar. Oscar narrowed his eyes at the polite expression on Sebastian's face, but crossed the room to give Blaine a hug.

"I need to go," he muttered as he held onto Blaine tightly and Blaine hugged him back with his good arm.

"I'm glad you came," he said, quietly as he leant back into the pillows. Oscar gave him a small smile.

"Of course I came, you matter a lot to me," Blaine gave him a weak smile and tried not to glare at Sebastian who was looking very smug. "I just- I need to get back to Garth and Caz…" Blaine nodded.

"Oz…" he began but Oscar cut him off, shaking his head.

"It's okay, Blaine, if you want to give the money to Cooper that's fine with me, and what I said…I'm sorry, that was out of line, I'm just angry, and quite scared for you…" Blaine nodded as Oscar trailed off, looking old and tired.

"It's okay, Oz, someone needed to tell him to grow up, and…" he reached under the covers and pulled out the money from his wallet. "here." He handed it to Oz whose eyes went wide.

"Blaine…" he began but Blaine shook his head firmly.

"I promised you that I'd give it to you…Garth did more for me than my mum ever did, just…please don't tell Cooper." Oscar nodded, tucking the money away and then hugging Blaine again.

"I won't, and _thank you_, Blaine, thank you so much." Blaine smiled at him and Sebastian gave him a winning one as Oscar almost _bounced_ out of the door with far more life than Blaine had seen since the attack. A second later Cooper came in.

"Hey Blaine…I'm going to…I'm gonna head back and fill Anna in, 'kay?" Blaine nodded.

"Okay," his hand closed around the money that Sebastian had given him. Cooper nodded at him and the awkward silence grew between the three of them. Unfazed as always, Sebastian continued to smile with a hint of superiority at Cooper. Cooper looked marginally unnerved by Sebastian's presence, like he didn't know how to react, and began to move towards the door.

"I'll see you when you make it home," Blaine nodded, watching his brother leave the room before he changed his mind.

"Wait!" he called out. Cooper stopped, letting the door swing closed as he took his weight off it. "I have something…" he beckoned Cooper over and he came, quickly. "Here." he handed the money to Cooper. Cooper stared at him.

"No, Blaine, you were right…give it to him…" Blaine shook his head.

"She's still my mum," he said, tears filling his eyes. "I want her to be okay," Cooper stared down at his little brother in wonder and disbelief. He looked down at the money, blinking quickly. Blaine gave him a small smile as Cooper reached down to hug Blaine.

"You are the _best_ little brother," he said, clapping Blaine's shoulders. "You are _the best_!" Blaine smiled at his brother as he stuffed the money into his pocket. "I'll see you at home!" Blaine just smiled at his brother as he left, also with a spring in his step like the weight of the world had been removed from his shoulders. Blaine sank back, smile fading a little bit.

"Don't say anything…" he warned, not needing to look at Sebastian to see the overly smug look that had settled upon his face.

"I wasn't going to," came the haughty reply and Blaine began to laugh. Looking into Sebastian's eyes he saw the glimmer of mirth that he was doing his best to hide. Eventually the laughter came bursting out from within him and Blaine couldn't stop smiling.

"Thank you so much!" he squealed, throwing himself onto Sebastian. "_Thank you_!" Sebastian just held him as Blaine tried to strangle him with his hug. "I love you! You are _brilliant_!"

"I love you too, Blaine, but you might have to stop trying to choke me with your one hand." Blaine leaned back as Sebastian smirked down at him.

"Thank you," he repeated, feeling so relieved and uplifted that it almost didn't matter that he was in hospital. He had Emily, Oscar, Cooper and Sebastian. He had his Dalton friends. He had Anna and Megan.

"I look after you, Blaine, 'cause God only knows what'll happen if you're on your own." Blaine laughed. "But you owe me one _giant_ present." Blaine felt his mouth drop open as he laughed in disbelief.

"You've got me!" Sebastian narrowed his eyes, pulling a face of indecision.

"I've had you for two years…I want something new." Blaine whacked his arm as he continued to laugh.

"_Bastian_!"

* * *

_They kept him in that night for observation, but he was fine and he came home yesterday. Dad got in touch with the police, but they're not taking it seriously - kids fight all the time, they just don't get it. Finn slept quite a bit yesterday, and that was fine, but today…Carole and Burt have both had to dash to work and so I'm looking after him. It's not a big deal, I took care of my dad after all, but I'm kind of nervous. We haven't spoken about what happened to him, not yet, but what if he asks me why? Can I tell him what Karofsky did?_

"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Kurt and Finn rolled his eyes.

"I'm fine, my head aches a little bit but otherwise I'm totally fine Kurt, I swear." Kurt nodded and sat down on the edge of the couch near Finn's feet.

"I'm sorry, I'm just a bit worried about you." Finn grinned at him from where he was propped up on a mound of cushions. "After all you just charged in there and got knocked out." Finn gave him a smile as Kurt suddenly kicked himself.

_Way to bring up the topic you wanted to avoid, Kurt!_

Finn just settled down into the cushions and grinned at Kurt again. Kurt knew that Finn was in a pretty good mood after his conversation with Burt - Kurt had never thought how much Burt approving of Finn had meant to him as his own relationship with Carole had flowed so naturally - and guessed that him getting hurt didn't really bother him anymore.

"I was just trying to make sure you were okay…looked like I arrived at just the right moment." he added, and Kurt swallowed, remembering Karofsky's raised fist, his own vulnerable position.

"Yeah, well, thanks, _again_." Finn shook his head and then winced a little bit.

"It's fine, I mean, you have no idea how much I freaked out when he said that you were with _Karofsky_. I was convinced that he was going to _kill _you, and I thought it was all my fault! I was so scared for you that I didn't even have time to worry about Burt shredding me to pieces for letting him taking you in the first place!" Kurt knew that it was meant to be funny, but he could only feel a little bit of him that wanted to laugh.

"Yeah, well, I know my dad's a fearsome person," they both laughed a little bit awkwardly at that, both remembering the night in the basement.

"Kurt," began Finn, after a moment of peaceful quiet. "can I ask you something?" Kurt looked over at him and just _knew_ what was coming next.

"Yes…?" he said, hesitantly. Finn shifted and frowned down at Kurt from his almost upright position.

"Can I ask you what Karofsky wanted? I mean, he didn't want to _hurt_ you, but…what _did_ he want to do with you? I mean, he didn't kidnap you because he wants to say sorry…is he going to keep coming after you? Is he trying to threaten you? I mean, what's going on?" Kurt looked at him and his mind made itself up.

_He's worried about me and I **do** know that he can keep a secret - he kept what Keats said a secret, after all…_

"Can I tell you something if you _swear_ not to tell anyone else, _especially_ my dad?" Finn shifted himself up, looking worried.

"Of course…" he looked at Kurt and seemed to sense how scared and unsure Kurt was about telling him the truth. "I swear on my dad's ashes that I'll never tell a soul." Kurt felt himself choke up at that.

"Thank you," he said, quietly, and Finn just nodded, waiting for Kurt to start talking. "I lied," he said, honestly. "about why Karofsky tried to kill me, and where he did that. I told you that he threatened to kill me in the locker rooms, but that's not true…he threatened to kill me _because_ of what happened in the locker rooms." He glanced up at Finn and saw that he was listening intently. Finn nodded, asking him to continue when he was ready. Kurt closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I'd been reading this stuff on the Dalton website about how prejudice was just ignorance and how that the bullies were in the wrong and how the most important thing to have was to have courage and stay strong and know that there was _nothing_ wrong with you…" he took another breath, allowing the silence to grow until it was awkward. "and one day Karofsky shoved me into a locker and I decided to have courage." Finn sat upright a little bit more, looking afraid, perhaps sensing that this was going somewhere _terrible_ as opposed to just _bad_.

"I chased after him and called him out. I asked him why he was bullying me. I told him that he could hit me and that it wouldn't change me-"

"Did he?" Kurt shook his head.

"No…" Finn didn't sag in relief though and Kurt could see that his brain was whirring around trying to find something that was _worse_. "I called him names and he told me not to push him and he…he _kissed_ me… and I- I…" Kurt broke off, tears popping up in his eyes. "He went back for another but I pushed him away, and he threatened to kill me if I told anyone, and I…I _really_ thought he would…" Kurt looked over Finn and saw that his face was a hard mask of anger.

"I'm going to kill him." he said, softly. "I'm going to _fucking kill him_!" he tried to get to his feet, but got tangled in the sheets and slipped, thankfully hitting the carpet. Kurt got to his feet in worry and helped him back onto the sofa.

"No, _please_, don't…I- I've only told Blaine what happened, Finn, I just- _please_ don't do anything, _please_." Finn looked angry, but Kurt could see that he could not think of anything else he could possibly do.

"Kurt, I'm so sorry." he said and Kurt shook his head.

"It's okay, Finn, there's- there's nothing you could have done." he shrugged. "He came up to me in the shop and we just started talking. He told me that his dad made him get a job because he thought the Footballers were a bad influence and I agreed, but whenever I mentioned the word "_gay_" he told me to shut up." Kurt shrugged. "He asked me how Dalton was I said it was great and that he'd have been expelled if he'd, you know, kissed me." Finn nodded.

"Yeah, of course, _shit_!" Finn looked at him in hurt anguish. "Why does all the shit things happen to you?" he asked, with an incredulous frown. "I mean, you lost your mum and you got bullied really badly and you got heartbroken and shit…and you got forcibly kissed _twice_, _and_ your life threatened! I mean, how do you do it?" Kurt stared at him blankly for a moment before shrugging.

"I don't know Finn, I just…I just knew that there wasn't anything wrong with me and that I had a right to be who I was; it still wore me down and affected me, but…" he shrugged. "I don't know, I just did." Finn nodded.

"Okay, man, I was so right about you being a man…" Kurt laughed a little with him. "You want to tell me more?" he asked, cautiously and Kurt nodded.

"Yeah, I'm okay to do that."

"Sure?" Kurt gave him a very stern look.

"I can handle it." he assured him, perhaps a little sharply. "So then the manager came over and asked us to take it outside and he led me away into the bathroom. He asked me how I knew he'd be expelled and I said that he wasn't the only arsehole in the world and he told me that he thought if I went away he would be able to breathe again, but that's not the case, and…" Kurt broke off. "I told him he needed help…and he- he _likes_ me, Finn," Finn stared at him incomprehension for half a second before his jaw dropped.

"He wants to go out with you?" he questioned like he couldn't quite believe that that could possibly be true. Kurt nodded.

"He- he said that he thought I knew he wouldn't hurt him because he hadn't yet…" Finn raised his eyebrows in disbelief, but didn't say anything. "And I told him that it didn't matter that he hadn't punched me…I said that he'd emotionally hurt me and I just…I lost it. I told him about Charles. I told him that he was selfish and stupid and I…I made a _stupid mistake_!" Finn frowned at him.

"How?" Kurt rolled his eyes, sinking against the sofa back.

"I put up my hands and I…I _turned my back_ on him…" he shook his head, amazed by his own stupidity. "He grabbed me and spun me round. He had his fist clenched and I thought that he was going to punch me, but then he lowered it and asked me why I don't ever shut up and I said that the more you shout the more people hear you and I found that listened and cared. He asked if this was Dalton and he asked where were they and I said that they lived in other states and he asked if they'd come and beat him up and I…" he broke off, watching Finn's face falling into a frown.

"Of course they would, right? I mean with the Charles dude they…" he trailed off in understanding. There had been no impassioned charge. There hadn't even been any anger. There had been a lot of tears and even more rule following. "Shit." muttered Finn and Kurt nodded.

"He said I should come back to McKinley because they got into fights for me and asked if he was going to hit me, and then you burst in…" Finn nodded, swallowing and looking pissed off. Kurt rubbed a hand over his eyes and watched Finn as he struggled to find anything to say. He knew that Finn wasn't going to tell anyone, but he was still worried. Finn ruffled up his hair.

"Man, I'm glad I found you…" he muttered. Kurt looked over at him, frowning a little bit.

"How did you do that?" he asked. Finn shrugged, shaking his head.

"I don't know…I remember wondering whether it was twenty minutes yet so I walked over to shop and I couldn't see you and I was a little worried so I asked the manager if he'd seen you and he said yes and that you'd gone with Karofsky," he broke off, taking a huge breath in. "I remember freaking out and dropping all the shopping and demanded to know where you'd gone…I ran out and I…" Finn frowned, rubbing his forehead. Then he shook his head. "I don't remember…" Kurt sighed and shook his head.

"I guess it doesn't matter," Finn swallowed, biting the inside of his lip.

"You know what you said, about the Dalton guys, you don't think- what do you think?" Kurt sighed, almost unwilling to answer that question.

"I think that they pity me, I think they feel that they have to look after me, I think they look down on me, and…I don't think they care…well, Keats cares, Juri cares, the rest…the Warblers…" he shook his head. "They don't care about me." Finn frowned at him, looking sad.

"That was just Karofsky, man, he was trying to get to you." Kurt shook his head, a forced smile on his lips.

"No, he's not smart enough to attack me like that. I think he was seeing how much danger he was in. I think he was trying to work out how far he could push me before he'd get a reaction from someone else. Karofsky only responds to violence, and intimidation, I guess." Finn looked at him, still with a sad expression on his face.

"You still got us, Kurt, the New Directions, Mr Schue, you got us." Kurt nodded, curling up his legs.

"I know," he replied. "I know…"

_…but it's not the same…I felt like I belonged in Dalton. I belonged and I didn't have to worry about being slusheed or shoved into a locker or called names…It's never going to be the same now…Never._

Finn yawned widely, rubbing his eyes again. Kurt shot him a look through narrowed eyes and Finn smiled guiltily at him. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Get some rest," he said, in a tired voice. "You look like you need it." Finn grinned at him and obediently leant his head against the pillow, quickly drifting off to sleep. Kurt shook his head at Finn and then got to his feet, thinking that he might as well go up to his room.

_Ding dong!_

Kurt threw down the old magazine that he'd been reading; the headline bore the title _Beware the Bird-Eater_ and explained, in great length, the story of Cameron Gaylin and his apparent obsession with eating his pet budgies, and frowned.

The doorbell went again and so Kurt, with a tired sigh, got off his bed and dashed down the stairs before the sound could rouse Finn from his slumbers. Looking through the glass of the door he saw the outline of a relatively tall, bulky, figure and opened it with a deep frown.

"Hey Kurt!" Kurt blinked in shock as he looked at Jeff who was standing on his doorstep, wrapped up against the cold, and grinning.

"Hey…" he said, confused and taken aback. "What are you- what are you _doing_ here?" he questioned, unaware that Jeff even knew where he lived. "How do you know where I live?" Jeff stamped his feet.

"Can we do this inside?" he asked. "'Cause I think I'm loosing the feeling in my feet." Kurt blinked at him once more before nodding and stepping backwards, letting him in. Jeff peeled off his outer layers and then turned to Kurt with a wide grin. "It's good to see you're okay." Kurt blinked and then shook his head.

"What the _hell_ are you _doing_ here?" he questioned, unable to believe that - after studiously ignoring him - Jeff could just turn up here with a grin and pretend that they were best friends. Jeff frowned in offence.

"Sebastian sent me," he said with only a little hint of a grin.

"Why?" demanded Kurt, folding his arms.

"He got the messages you sent to Blaine and, because I'm the only person in the area, he asked me to come down and check on you." Kurt stared at him in disbelief. He wasn't sure what to be more shocked about; the fact that Jeff apparently lived in the area - he'd given Kurt the impression he lived in New York - or the fact that _Sebastian_ had sent him to check on Kurt.

"You live here? I thought you lived in New York?" Jeff shrugged.

"Yeah, I do, but I spend Christmas at Dalton." Kurt raised his eyebrows at that.

"Really?" Jeff nodded, smiling a little bit more again. "Isn't that really depressing?" Jeff pulled a face, shaking his head.

"I don't know, I like Christmas at Dalton, beats being with the biological family." Kurt raised an eyebrow at him and Jeff sighed, rolling his eyes. "I have my Dalton family and my biological family - my mum." Kurt nodded, swallowing down the distaste that he felt at that. "Anyway, Karofsky…what happened? Are you okay? You said Finn was attacked, is he okay?" Kurt blinked at him, trying to get his head together before nodding.

"Yeah, I'm fine, and Finn's asleep in the front room. He banged his head quite badly but he's going to be fine." Jeff deflated as he let out a great sigh of relief, grinning at Kurt again.

"Oh, _good_, 'cause you sounded alright - well, you were shaken, but know what I mean - and we weren't really sure what you meant when you said Finn had been "_attacked_"…I was envisioning lots of blood. Oh thank god." Kurt narrowed his eyes at him.

"Is there actually something you _want_?" Jeff blinked at him, face falling into one of saddened confusion. He suddenly looked incredibly baleful and his eyes had become wide and like those of a plaintive puppy. Kurt groaned mentally.

"I wanted to see if you were okay. I prayed all the way over here that you were both safe." Kurt snorted at that, not in the mood for any religion, and looked at Jeff in disdain.

"If you really wanted to know if I was okay you would have responded to my emails, or checked in on me when it actually happened - not two days later." Jeff frowned at him like he had no idea what Kurt was talking about.

"I'm sorry about that, but Sebastian only got to Blaine this morning so he only just picked up the message. The moment I heard I got in the car, I'm sorry, but, Blaine…" he trailed off his face paling.

"Blaine, _what_?" demanded Kurt, angry with the boy that he was meant to be friend.

_And who you want to be your boyfriend_, said an annoying voice in his head and Kurt closed his eyes, begging himself to have patience in this frustrating situation.

"Didn't you hear?" asked Jeff, looking shocked. "He got _attacked_! Holt tried to _kill _him!" Kurt's face slackened in panicked shock. His breathing stopped.

"_What_?" Jeff nodded, looking scared and worried and more than a little bit freaked out.

"Yeah, apparently he had a row with Cooper and he ran out into Matt and Damien, and they told him to run, but he didn't and then Greg and Holt came and started beating the _crap_ out of him! He got a dislocated arm and- and-" Jeff stopped, forcing himself to breathe and calm down. "and the knife _sliced the skin of his neck_! He could have been _killed_!" Kurt felt the world spin around him. He didn't know who any of the people were - excepting Cooper - but that didn't matter. What mattered was that Blaine had- Blaine had nearly _died_!

_No! That's not- that's not possible! When did this happen? Is he alright? Oh no, I feel so guilty. I thought that Blaine had something against me. I never considered that something might have happened to him! I knew it was so out of character!_

"Is he going to be alright?" he choked out, eventually, and Jeff shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, he's not awake…Sebastian didn't sound _overly_ worried, but then it's Sebastian and he's good at hiding how he feels…" Kurt swallowed, trying to not panic, and attempting to force himself to believe that Blaine was going to be alright.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" he asked, head still reeling a little bit. Jeff frowned at him, pouting his lips in thought.

"I don't know…you should have gotten the message…we-" he broke off, mouth dropping open a little bit as he stared at Kurt. Then he slapped a palm against his forehead. "D'oh!" he exclaimed. "We didn't add you to our private email!" Kurt raised an eyebrow and Jeff sighed. "At the end of Freshman year we made secret email accounts because Keats-" he broke off, looking at Kurt warily. "he knew our email addresses and some stuff happened."

"What?"

"Sorry, can't tell, but bad stuff happened," he shivered. "So we made new ones and we meant to give you one, but we must have forgotten! That's why we didn't reply to your emails…well, I guess Juri and Trinity did because it didn't happen to them." Kurt frowned at him.

"So, who is on this?" Jeff looked up at the ceiling in thought.

"Me, Blaine, Nick, Flint, David, Wes, Sebastian, Thad…Liam, I think…" Kurt raised an eyebrow at that.

"That's it?" Jeff nodded, shrugging.

"It's not like we can contact Chris or Fred or Drew in the holidays anyway so we didn't bother with them. Trinity would never join and Juri's so far away we don't tend to contact him - not with his sister…" Jeff shuddered. Kurt remained unimpressed. If they had really wanted to add him to their stupid little web thing they would have remembered, or, better still, just have given him those email addresses in the first place.

"Why didn't you just tell me those email addresses?" he demanded and Jeff stared, blankly at him in confusion.

"Um…" he mumbled, frowning. "I have no idea…that would have been a good idea, wouldn't it?" he shook his head and then pulled a guilty expression. "Sorry, but no harm done, right?" Kurt glared at Jeff, finding the boy to be increasingly annoying. Did he not understand that Kurt had _needed_ the Dalton boys when Karofsky had happened?

"No there _was_ harm done!" he snapped. "I _needed_ you all when Karofsky attacked me! I was on my own and I needed your help!" and Kurt felt stupid and pathetic for admitting it, but Jeff was acting like it was all fine when it wasn't. "And you couldn't be bothered to check your emails or _tell me_ that you were in the area!" Jeff's face remained incredibly passive at that. Then he shrugged.

"I'm truly sorry, Kurt, with God as my witness I whole-heartedly apologise, but I didn't tell you because I assumed that you knew. Besides, I had no intention of leaving Dalton this holiday because Bea and Lottie needed - _need_ - me." Kurt glared at him, not just because of the amount of times Jeff kept bringing up God, but because he seemed to be insinuating that Kurt mattered less then Beatrice and the sister of guy who had _attacked_ him!

"I don't care who you have as your witness! Just because I haven't been your friend for as long and don't know everything about you doesn't mean that I don't matter!" Jeff's eyes widened and a look of offended shock came upon his face.

"I didn't say that!" he exclaimed, voice getting higher in pitch. "I just meant that I didn't know something like this would happen to you, especially as you have all your friends from McKinley, and so I didn't think it was important to _tell you_ that I was staying at Dalton! I assumed you just knew from being around us!" Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Yes, it's all about you!"

"Well as far as I can tell you're the one throwing a temper tantrum over nothing!" Kurt felt his blood boil with white hot rage at that. How _dare_ Jeff say that it was _nothing_! Karofsky had _threatened Kurt's life_! He had landed Finn in _hospital_! How _dare_ he say that that was _nothing_!

"It was _not nothing_! He landed _Finn_ in _hospital_!"

"And he's going to be _fine_! So he got a bump on the head, _so what_? You're both _fine_! At least you're not being _beaten_ by your parents like Bea was! At least you've got a nice _home_ unlike Fred! At least your family isn't _falling to pieces_ and _dying_ like Chris'! At least you've got each other and all your friends unlike Drew who is being _shunned_! _At least you have a family that loves you unlike __**me**_!" Kurt took several paces backwards as Jeff screamed the last sentence, voice ripping with pain, anger and jealousy. Jeff breathed heavily, his face saying that he was ashamed for loosing his temper - and, probably, for letting slip all those things - and Kurt had nothing to say to him.

"I-" he faltered, not sure what to say. Suddenly he felt very small. Constantly, wherever he went at Dalton, he had people telling him that his life was so much better than everyone else's. He understood that he could have it worse off - he knew that is father was one in a million - but that didn't mean what he'd been through was small and insignificant. It had wrecked Kurt's life. Kurt had been on his own. He'd been scared. That _mattered_!

Jeff ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes. He rested his hands, clasped together, against nose. He took a deep breath in and out, seemingly composing himself. Kurt watched him as he continued to breathe, steadily, and wondered how Finn had not been awoken by the noise.

"Forgive me Father for I have sinned." he muttered. "I have broken an oath." Kurt arched his eyebrow.

"I don't think that that will help you," Jeff opened his eyes and looked at Kurt.

"You would think wrong, Kurt. I broke an oath I made to Bea and Ros. I swore on the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit that I wouldn't tell _anyone_ about what her parents did to her…I broke that; I have sinned." Kurt stared at him in disbelief. Jeff, who had lost his father because of religion, was praying to _the same God_ that the hijackers believed in. He was praying to the God that they'd killed his father in the name of.

"You do know that what you're doing is _insane_, don't you?" Jeff stared at him blankly.

"Um, what is "_insane_" about praying and asking forgiveness?" Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Because the God that you're praying to is the reason that your father - your _real_ one - is dead." Jeff looked down at his clasped hands and then back up at Kurt.

"And your point is?" Kurt stared at him, eyes wide and unable to comprehend that Jeff didn't see how completely _stupid_ that was.

"My point is that why are you asking for forgiveness from some guy who sat up on a cloud in the sky and let your father be murdered in his name?" Jeff shrugged.

"I don't believe that you should fight and kill in the name of God, Kurt, and I also don't think that he's sitting on a cloud in the sky. I don't believe that he has a physical manifestation; he is an omnipresent, omniscient, being. Just because my dad is dead because of what some people think doesn't mean that it's _His_ fault. There will always be people who think differently and believe different things. I believe in a God of peace and love."

"Yes, so loving that he thinks gays should burn in Hell." Jeff shook his head, looking at Kurt with something akin to pity.

"Just because I believe in God doesn't mean I think being gay is wrong. Lots of people don't think that. There are _a lot_ of religious people at Dalton and none of them have a problem with gay people. Both Flint and Blaine believe in God and they _are_ gay, and, as far as I know, neither of them think that who they love is a sin." Kurt stared at him in disbelief.

"Blaine believes in God?" he demanded, incredulously. Jeff nodded.

"Yes, he does, and there's nothing wrong with that. God gives me something that is stable and unchanging. I have faith, I have reassurance and I have…" he broke off, frowning. "Everybody believes in something Kurt, be it a God or something else…We all _need_ to believe in something." Kurt shook his head.

"I don't believe in God," Jeff rolled his eyes.

"You're not listening; you don't have to believe in _God_, you believe in _something_! You believe that you have a right to be gay; I believe that God loves everyone. You believe that your father will take care of you and provide you shelter; I believe that if I am truly in need God will be there for me in whatever way." Kurt shook his head.

"It's not the same. I _do_ have a right to be gay and my dad is _real_." Jeff shook his head.

"I feel sorry for you," he said, softly and sadly. "I'll give you a piece of advice, though, Kurt; don't talk like that at Dalton, it will be construed as intolerance and you'll get expelled. I'm sorry I bothered to stop by."

The door slammed shut and Kurt was left feeling very unfilled and more than a little bit confused. Normally it left him with a good feeling to point out to other people that the fact that they believed in something that just _couldn't_ be real, but Jeff hadn't even gotten _angry_ over it. He had been completely _fine_ with Kurt mocking him - well, not _fine_ with it, but… He'd been more upset when Kurt had insinuated that he was selfish or egotistical.

_I don't understand Jeff Sterling. Then again, I thought that I was past trying to understand the Dalton boys. I should have stuck to my initial idea to not contact them much. Still, after a day or two it got quiet. I just wanted to **talk**…I don't know anything about them…They know so much about me…Poor Bea, Fred, Chris, Drew…I know how it feels when your family falls apart and you loose someone so I **really** feel sorry for Chris, and Jeff…Blaine…I should really ought to listen to them more…_

* * *

"Guys, _please stop_! Forget _school_, you could be arrested! He's going to tell!"…

"No, he wont."…

"_Barnaby_!"…

"Sebastian…"…

"Sorry…" …

"_Barnaby_…Matt's right…we shouldn't- we can't-"…

"_He ruined my life_!"…

"You can't _murder_ him! Beat him up, _yeah_, he deserves that, but _murder_! We'll get _life_!"…

"Everything will be _more_ fucked up if we do!"…

"Let's just run now! He knows not to tell! He knows if he fucks with you again you _will_ do it!"…

"Let's just _run_!"…

"_Now_!"…

"_Blaine_?…_Oi_, you _fuckheads_!"…

"_Run_!"…

"_Blaine_! _Blaine_! _Fuck_! _Stay with me_! _Stay with me brother_!"…

"_BLAINE_!" Blaine jolted upright, soaked with sweat, heart pounding. He flailed his arms, fists colliding with a solid chest. "Blaine, stop, it's alright! It's me."

"_Coop_?" he cried out, tears already pouring down his wet face.

"Yeah, buddy, it's just me." Blaine pressed his face into Cooper's shoulder that was covered with a thin cotton t-shirt, allowing his tears to dribble into the soft fabric as his back rose and fell as he sobbed as quietly as he possibly could. He gripped his hands into material, clenching his fists and trying to stop the tears that just fell and fell.

"Cooper…" he whispered, begging his older brother to chase the nightmares away like he had when they were little.

"Don't worry, I brought my baseball bat," he said and Blaine let out a choked laugh that was almost lost in a sob. "I'm here to chase away the monsters that I made, again." At any other moment Blaine would tell his brother that it wasn't his fault, tell him that he was stupid for blaming himself for Holt's twisted nature and tell him to snap out of it, but he was overwhelmed and quite happy for Cooper to wallow in his own bad feelings like Blaine.

"Will you tell me the story?" he asked, feeling like he was six not sixteen and Cooper laughed out loud before replying.

"Sure, but I don't tell it like mum did."

"I don't care…" said Blaine, tearfully and Cooper lay down next to his brother, propping them both against the headboard.

"Okay…Once upon a time there were two boys in an apple yard. One of them was tall and strong whilst the other was small and fast. Everyday the picked apples. The tall one would pluck them from the branches whilst the small one ran around and caught them in a wicker basket. When the day ended they'd walk up the hill and then down the hill-"

"-and then up the hill and down the hill-" "-

"-and then up the mountain and down the mountain-"

"-and then up the mountain and down the mountain-"

"-until the arrived by a lake. The tall one would jump into the lake and the small one would jump onto his hands and then across with the apples. He'd pull the tall one onto the bank and they'd walk through the forest."

"The _dark_ forest." interjected Blaine and Cooper rolled his eyes.

"Right, they'd walk through the _dark_ forest. There was a path and they stayed on it, putting one foot in front of the other. Over and over and over and over and over and over and-"

"-over and over and over and over and over and over." Cooper grinned down at his little brother who had his eyes closed but was smiling.

"When they were halfway through the woods an old hag appeared-"

"_Boo_!"

"-everyday and she asked the children;"

"Oh won't you come with me?"

"And the children said;"

"Not on our lives."

"So the witch asked;"

"Would you like some cookies?"

"And the children replied;"

"Not on our lives;"

"And so the witch, who was beyond desperate, said;"

"Are you afraid of me?"

"And the children turned their noses up and shouted;"

"NOT ON OUR LIVES!"

"And they danced around her and back down the path putting on foot in front of the other. Over and over and over and over and over and over and-"

"-over and over and over and over and over and over."

"When they made their way out of the woods they came to a field of corn. They had to run through it in a zig-zag pattern because of the farmers who hated the children because they thought they were stealing corn but they weren't because they were both honest and hardworking. They dodged the farmers who brandished their pitchforks and yelled;"

"GET OFF OF ME CORN!" Both brothers laughed at Blaine's terrible attempted at some sort of accent. Blaine had colour back in his cheeks and he felt relaxed and safe.

"They didn't drop a single apple and soon they were home and dry. A long field of low cut grass lay before them and they ran as fast as they could. They were evenly matched as the taller one had longer legs but the smaller one was faster. They burst through the door at the same time. Their mother was baking apple pie from the apples that they had picked the day before. She turned to them with a wide smile and the smell of apple pie and clematis. Both boys opened their mouths and shouted at the same time;"

"I LOVE YOU!"

"And she said back to them that I love you more." The two brothers smiled at each other and Cooper reached down and hugged his little, smaller and faster brother. Blaine rested his head against Cooper's chest and heard his heart thumping loudly and steadily.

"I'm sorry about what I said about mum," said Blaine, a single tear running out of the corner of his eye. "I really miss her, but, Coop, I'm sorry but I don't- I don't think I want her back…" Cooper sighed and nodded.

"It's okay, Blaine, I understand…you have Emily and you're scared that she's going to leave again, so am I. That's why I really want to do this for her. I want to respect me and love me and know that I'm there for her, and then, maybe, she'll stay…" Blaine swallowed.

"I don't want to talk to her right now, Coop, I'm tired and I'm scared and I don't want to risk getting even more hurt." Cooper nodded again.

"Yeah, I understand…I'm scared too…" Blaine raised his head in shock to look into Cooper's sad eyes.

"What are you scared of?" he asked, softly, unable to imagine that his brother was scared of anything.

"I'm scared that I'm going to turn into something worse than dad," he admitted, swallowing down a lump in his throat. Blaine shook his head but Cooper carried on speaking before Blaine could interject. "I hit you, Blaine. I hit _my little brother_. I'm meant to look after you and protect you and I _know_ I don't do those things but I've never done anything worse to you then tell you suck when, sometimes, you _really_ do!"

"There are people worse than dad out there," said Blaine, quietly. "People like Holt, people like…" his throat closed up.

_The scars across his chest were a criss-crossed pattern of angry red marks. They mapped the outline of his abs and each rib that protruded from his skin and rose and fell with each shaking breath. A red "x" had been drawn over his heart. The straight line that ran from his sternum down through his belly button and stopped just above the waist band was scabbed over. The skin that was not red was a yellow-brown as the bruises continued to fade. Bleeding from where the crusted coating had been torn away in anguish was the word across his breast; MINE…_

"There are worse people out there." he repeated, pulling his mind from the vivid, horrifying, memory. Cooper sighed and banged his head against the headboard.

"I _know_, but…I don't want to be worse than dad. Your friend was right…I need to grow up, before I hurt you again or Anna or Meg…"

"You wouldn't hurt them," said Blaine with a serious tone to his voice. "You slapped me because I was insulting mum. I'm bigger than them, we've always fought. It was only natural."

"_Don't_ defend me!" he spat out, self-loathing heavy in his voice. "I was wrong. It can't be justified, Blaine, it _can't be_!" Blaine was about to counter him, try and make him see sense, but the door flew open.

"_MERRY CHRISTMAS_!" screamed Anna and Meg, flipping on the lights, both dressed in their pyjamas with tinsel wrapped around their necks. All traces of flu had vanished from Meg and she threw herself onto Cooper as Blaine sat up and hugged Anna.

"Merry Christmas!" he said, grinning, having forgot that it was Christmas today. Cooper groaned as Meg plonked herself onto his knees and Anna hauled her stocking onto the bed.

"Look what I got!" exclaimed Meg, up ending hers and sending the contents flying everyone as she shook it to make it all come out.

"Woah! Good haul!" exclaimed Cooper, once he'd lowered his hands so that a toy didn't go flying into his eye.

"Would you like some chocolate?" asked Anna, extending the open bag of chocolate coins to Blaine. Blaine grinned and pinched one.

"I would love chocolate!" he exclaimed, opening the wrapping whilst Cooper stole Meg's chocolate orange and held it above his head as she tried to grab it. "What time is it?"

"Eight!" said Anna nonchalantly as she examined a wooden puzzle that their dad had given her. Blaine's eyebrows jumped up his face and he shared a shocked look with Cooper.

"_Eight_?" repeated Cooper, incredulously. "_Eight_?" Meg nodded, seriously. "What the hell happened to getting up at five-thirty?"

"We were up at six," explained Anna, handing Blaine a hairbrush and band, clearly wanting him to plait her hair.

"Mummy told us not to disturb Blaine," said Meg with a very serious look on her face. "He needs lots and lots of sleep. I saved this for you." she added, handing Blaine a neatly wrapped present. Blaine grinned down at his little sister.

"Thanks Meg!"

"What did you save for me?" demanded Cooper, tickling Meg so that she emitted shrieks of laughter. Blaine tore off the paper, temporarily abandoning Anna's hair, and found a little _Lindt_ reindeer.

"Oh thank you Meg," he said, reaching over to hug her. He peeled away the golden wrapping and divided it into four pieces, giving the larger three to his siblings. Popping the head of the reindeer into his mouth he went back to plaiting Anna's hair whilst Meg talked nineteen to the dozen about the little things that she'd got in her stocking. Tying the little ribbon with the bell on it around Anna's hair band so that there was a tinkling every time she moved her head he was almost knocked off the bed by Meg leaping at him and showing him the little notepad that had musical notes around the edge.

It was a tight fit for all four of them to be on Blaine's bed, but somehow they managed to not fall onto the floor. Within half an hour all the chocolate was eaten and they were buzzing with energy and excitement. Cooper still managed to behave like a giant kid as he tossed the little bouncy ball that Anna had received between him and her whilst Meg was in the middle, trying to grab it whilst Blaine attempted to make sure no one sustained any serious injury.

"Kids," Emily's head came poking through the door at nine and neither Blaine nor Cooper objected to being called a kid. "you can come downstairs." Anna and Meg were out of the door as fast they possibly could be, but Blaine and Cooper left the bed with more trepidation. Blaine shrugged on his dressing gown and embraced Emily tightly. Cooper hugged her too and the three of them stood in the doorway.

"What's dad like?" asked Cooper, quietly. Emily shook her head.

"Quiet, just like he has been since the attack," Blaine looked at his socked feet.

"Should I speak to him?" he asked and Emily shook her head again.

"No darling, just leave it be, come downstairs and enjoy Christmas." Blaine tried to walk downstairs and not think about the fact that almost exactly two years ago he'd tried to commit suicide. The front room, with it's tree and decorations, had already been filled with the smell of gingerbread, and Anna and Meg were both munching on their "_breakfast_". Cooper and Blaine both walked in awkwardly and took up the little men and avoided their father's gaze.

Slumping down onto the same sofa the two brothers exchanged looks that asked for strength to get through the morning. Neither brother had actually bought their father a Christmas present after the disastrous trip into the shopping centre, but they weren't exactly sure that he knew that.

However, very quickly, it didn't matter as Anna and Meg were ripping off the wrapping paper of their gifts and squealing and hugging people every second. Anna had nearly suffocated Blaine when he'd given her his old guitar and Meg succeeded in knocking Blaine off the couch after she'd realised that he'd bought her the strange toy monkey thing that banged cymbals together.

Both Blaine and Cooper had acquired several knew sweaters and ties from their father and Emily. Anna had bought Blaine a book that contained the sheet music from various _Disney_ films and Meg had given him a strange, lumpy, thing that he quickly realised was a penguin that she'd sowed together herself. Cooper had gotten a robin and had quickly made a game of trying to balance it on his head.

"You should sing something Blaine," said Cooper after Blaine had handed him a plain notebook because he had no idea what to buy him. "Make up for the crappy gift." Blaine rolled his eyes and looked pointedly at the scarf that Cooper had bought that was bright pink and had flowers on it. "What?" he said, defensively. "You like scarves and flowers!" Blaine rolled his eyes and looked over at Emily who glanced at their father's passive face and then nodded.

"Go on, Blaine, sing us something!" He got to his feet with a grin and made his way over to the stereo. He flicked through the many CDs that they owned until he found one of Christmas hits. He slotted it in and turned it on low. The familiar, tinkling, intro sounded and he spun around with a grin as Emily pulled out the video camera.

_I don't want a lot for Christmas_

_There is just one thing I need_

_I don't care about the presents_

_Underneath the Christmas tree_

He sang effortlessly over Mariah Carey's voice with a gingerbread man as fake microphone, putting on an over-exaggerated face of desperate longing. Cooper was pressing his mouth together very hard so that he didn't burst out laughing. Anna was grinning up at him and Emily had gathered up Meg into her arms and they both were holding the camera together whilst watching him with wide, expectant, eyes that shone with happiness and pleasure.

_I just want you for my own_

_More than you could ever know_

_Make my wish come true_

_All I want for Christmas is you_

The moment the drums kicked in Cooper was on his feet. He lifted up Anna and spun her around and around as Blaine threw the gingerbread man over towards Meg, and she caught it in her slightly chubby fist.

_I don't want a lot for Christmas_

_There is just one thing I need_

Blaine vaulted over the sofa back with a wide grin on his face as he came to land by Cooper who was dancing with Anna in the midst of the mounds of discarded wrapping paper.

_And I don't care about the presents_

They chimed in with the backing vocals, clicking their fingers and singing into imaginary microphones and Emily laughed at the sight of Cooper and Anna singing together as Cooper towered above her.

_Underneath the Christmas tree_

The three of them danced around the Christmas tree with a skip in their step and wide grins upon their faces. They kicked up the wrapping paper and Cooper grabbed Anna around the middle, whirling her round and round so fast that she became a blur and Blaine tried to keep singing along whilst he laughed because he felt light and free and like he could do absolutely anything in the world.

_I just want you for my own_

_More than you could ever know_

_Make my wish come true_

_All I want for Christmas is you_

He beckoned to Meg with his hands and she leapt, happily, from her mother's lap and right into Blaine's arms, knocking him backwards. Cooper, with Anna attached to his leg, tried to catch him but it was too late and the four of them fell onto the wrapping paper, the wind knocked out of them and Blaine struggled to keep singing.

_Oh I won't ask for much this Christmas_

_I won't even wish for snow_

He remembered with a grin the delight that he felt when he'd thrust the balled up missile of snow into Sebastian's face as the flakes fell around them and felt laughter bubble up out of them at the look of shocked, stunned disbelief on Sebastian's face.

_And I'm just gonna keep on waiting_

_Underneath the mistletoe_

He could remember the feel of Sebastian's arm winding around his waist, pulling him under a clump of mistletoe and kissing him before Blaine even had a chance to notice the plant was hovering in the doorway, but he simply hooked his arms around Sebastian's neck and smiled into the kiss.

_I won't make a list and send it_

_To the North Pole for Saint Nick_

_I won't even stay awake to_

_Hear those magic reindeer click_

He leapt back onto his feet and helped Meg click her fingers whilst Cooper showered glitter upon them, and Anna giggled and shredded the white paper up so that it rained down upon them like snow. His father still looked remarkably passive about the whole situation, but Emily was laughing and trying to hold the video camera straight.

_'Cause I just want you here tonight_

_Holding on to me so tight_

_What more can I do?_

_Baby all I want for Christmas is you_

Cooper never sang back up for Blaine but he was now, bending down and encouraging Meg to sing as loud as she could. Anna was still trying make it snow indoors and Blaine had to laugh at her as she showered it down upon her father and only earned a mildly annoyed look for what Blaine would have been yelled at and banished to his room.

_Oh all the lights are shining_

_So brightly everywhere_

He remembered walking into gym with his arm hooked into Garth's and seeing the spinning disco ball that cast spots of white light onto the walls and floor and all the streamers and decorations.

_And the sound of children's_

_Laughter fills the air_

He remembered them getting tangled in a mess as they tried to dance and how they laughed and laughed in each others arms at their terrible attempts to dance and how excited they were that no one cared they were together.

_And everyone is singing_

_I hear those sleigh bells ringing_

They way he'd sung the lyrics of the songs to Garth, feeling completely able to be free and who he was as Garth clicked his fingers, clapped his hands and stomped his feet along with the music.

_Santa won't you bring me the one I really need?_

And when they walked out, arms around each others shoulders and he remembered his heart exploding inside his chest when Garth's lips brushed against his cheek for a split second.

_Won't you please bring my baby to me?_

Then he'd turned around, staring at his friend, both of them grinning, and flung his arms around his shoulders, gripping his back and they both laughed as Garth lifted him from his feet and they stayed, holding each other, swaying from side to side.

He tore himself from his good memories of Garth in time to catch Meg after she'd spun to him by Cooper. Anna danced away and Cooper caught hold of her hands and danced her around in circles. Blaine saw that their dad still had a passive expression on his face, but he was sure that the corners of his mouth were turning up at the sight of his daughters enjoying themselves.

_Oh I just want you for my own_

_More than you could ever know_

_Make my wish come true_

_Baby all I want for Christmas is_

_You baby_

Anna danced over to Meg and pulled her away from Blaine. Blaine watched them go with a grin because this was the best Christmas he could remember, even from before he came out because then Cooper had been grumpy and grouchy and Emily had been nervous and then they'd been babies and they'd all had to be very quite.

_All I want for Christmas is you baby_

Cooper hugged Blaine and Blaine laughed 'cause he had his brother and Sebastian and he was helping Garth and he was going to be alright because he was going to go back to Dalton and he felt incredibly optimistic for the first time ever at Christmas. He would see the Rev and give Garth and Oz and Caz their presents, and everything was just _working_.

* * *

_I haven't heard a thing from **any** of the guys since Jeff came round - not even **Juri** or **Trinity** - so I must have really offended him. It bugs me because Juri's always been my friend so I know that this is just beyond bad. I figure, though, that I'll just wait it out till New Year, give him some time to simmer down. That should work…_

"Merry Christmas, Kurt!" Kurt peeled his eyes open and groaned at the light that was on. He put his hands over his face and moaned out Finn's name;

"_Finn_! Go back to sleep!" he whined with a voice that was heavy with sleep and Finn laughed at him, his voice too bright and cheerful for the time.

"It's nine-thirty, Kurt!" Kurt sat upright at that, blanket sliding down to his waist. He frowned at Finn in disbelief.

"No it's not," he countered and Finn just grinned and threw a Christmas present that was messily wrapped at him. "Merry Christmas!" he repeated and Kurt laughed out loud.

"Merry Christmas, Finn," he replied with a grin. Finn smiled back at him, only a scar on his temple to show his encounter with Karofsky. He reached down to the end of his bed and pulled out a small package. "Here's your first present," he said.

"Thanks man," said Finn, tearing off the wrapping paper with the same enthusiasm as a little kid. "Cool!" he pulled out a pair of leather gloves. "Thanks Kurt," Kurt had opened his own parcel and saw the scarf that he'd been eyeing in the shop. He smiled over at his step-brother.

"Thanks Finn!" he said, slipping out of bed and Finn stood up too and they shared a hug. Kurt wrapped the scarf around his neck, even though he didn't need it. "Presents or breakfast?" he asked as they left their bedroom and headed down the stairs.

"Presents!" exclaimed Finn, eyes lighting up in excitement. Kurt shook his head, but he didn't bother to argue with him because he was excited too. Finn crashed down the stairs, sounding like an elephant with boots on and Kurt followed him lightly, still feeling a little bit tired.

"Merry Christmas!" said Burt and Carole as they made their way into the kitchen. Carole hopped up to hug her son and Kurt embraced his father and then Carole.

"Merry Christmas!" he said and accepted the cup of coffee that he was proffered to him by Carole.

"Toast?" asked Burt and Kurt nodded. Finn had already walked towards the Christmas and Carole rolled her eyes at his childlike expression of wonder and excitement.

"I love Christmas!" said Finn and Kurt rolled his eyes.

"I hadn't guessed," he remarked, dryly and Finn just smiled at him.

"I'm too cheerful to care that you're making fun of me - I think". Kurt laughed at his mild confusion for a brief moment before shaking it off and looking at the presents under the tree. Burt and Carole moved to sit down on the sofa, Burt's arm around Carole's shoulders.

It was strangely domestic in that moment, Finn pulling the presents out from under the tree and sorting them into piles for each of them - Kurt had been relieved to find that their shopping had been saved, even if the plates for Finn's aunt had been smashed, because it saved them having to go out and re-buy all their presents again. Kurt drinking coffee and poking fun at Finn's childish nature, and Burt and Carole watching them with smiles, munching on their toast.

"Alright, Finn," said Carole. "you can open your presents." Kurt, who had a slice of toast in his mouth, almost spat crumbs everywhere in laughter at the sight of Finn diving at the presents. He choked on the bread and Burt thumped his back, whilst laughing, and Kurt swallowed painfully, coughing and laughing. Carole just shook her head.

"I think we need to carefully time that moment," said Kurt, eyes stinging and trying to swallow normally. "in the future." Carole nodded.

"Yes, that would be a good idea, sorry Kurt." Kurt shook his head.

"It's fine," he assured her and was then they were interrupted by Finn.

"Oh, you got me _COD: Black Ops_! Thanks mum!" Kurt raised an eyebrow at Finn's excitement about getting a game that involved shooting people whilst Burt frowned.

"You bought him a game about _cod_?" he questioned and the other three laughed together, rolling their eyes and shaking their heads.

"No, dear, _Call of Duty_, it's a game for his xbox."

"Oh, right…" there was a pause before he added defensively. "How was I meant to know that? It's not like I bought those games for Kurt." Kurt raised his eyebrow at his dad.

"Maybe because he said "_Black ops_"? The last time I checked fish didn't go around on secret missions to kill things."

"You never know," said Finn, absent-mindedly. "who knows what fish think." Kurt stared at Finn in disbelief before shaking his head and picking up his own presents.

He was glad to receive lots of clothes, all of which he'd known he would get because he'd written his dad a very detailed list and then handed it to Carole who had smiled at him and tucked it in her handbag with a nod and a wink, but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy taking the wrapping paper and seeing which ones they'd chosen.

"Merry Christmas, Kurt," said Finn, dropping an oddly shaped package into his lap. It was long and thin and definitely _not_ an item of clothing. Kurt frowned at him.

"_What_," he demanded slowly. "is this?" Finn grinned up at him.

"Open it," Sighing and rolling his eyes, Kurt tore open the wrapping paper and was surprised - or maybe he shouldn't have been as it had a very distinctive shape - to see a broom roll out onto his lap. He saw his dad and Carole share bemused looks whilst Kurt stared down at it in shock. Then he looked back up at Finn in surprise. Finn was still beaming at him. "Like it?" he questioned and Kurt, letting out a laugh, nodded, dropping it onto the floor and giving him a big hug.

"Thanks, Finn, I hadn't even_ thought_ of that!" Finn shrugged.

"The story was funny, and then I saw one so I just thought…" he trailed off, shrugging, whilst Kurt continued to grin, glad that he could return the broom back to Sebastian.

"Erm," said Burt, still frowning in puzzlement. "why do you need a broom?" Kurt looked at Finn, smile quirking his lips, and then back at his dad. He shook his head.

"It's a Dalton thing, dad." His dad nodded, but still looked completely baffled as to why Kurt would need a broom.

Kurt hugged them all in gratitude for his various presents, and leapt to his feet, deciding that they definitely needed some music on. He didn't know whether it was because he was wrapped up warm with a new cardigan and the scarf, or because they had the heating on, or just because it was Christmas day, but he felt very warm inside. He didn't feel at all troubled or guilty. He wasn't worried.

He flicked, absent-mindedly, through the CD collection, searching for the one of various Christmas hits. There had been little time for singing fun Christmas songs at Dalton - only hymn after hymn after _hymn_ - which was a shame, in his opinion, as the New Directions had had the chance, but he was more than making it up for it in this holiday.

"If you're looking for the Christmas CD, it's in the player." Kurt turned around to look at his dad in mild surprise. Burt grinned at him. "What? You don't think that I don't know what you like best about Christmas? Apart from the fact that I buy you what you want, that is." Kurt smiled at his dad, rolling his eyes and laughing.

"Well, it has been rumoured that I have a love for singing." There was more laughter at that and Kurt pressed play.

_I turned my face away_

_And dreamed about you_

Kurt was mildly disappointed when it came on a little way into the Pogues _Fairytale of New York_ because, whilst he liked the song a lot, he was in the mood for something a little bit more upbeat.

"Oh, I love this song!" said Finn, looking up.

_Got on a lucky one_

_Came in eighteen to one_

_I had a feeling that year's_

_For me and you_

He began to sing along, impersonating the slightly drunken slur that Shane MacGowan seemed to have - which fitted perfectly with the song, and Kurt raised an eyebrow, as he always found it difficult to work out what the lyrics were; in the end he'd resorted to the internet

_Said, "Happy Christmas_

_I love you, baby_

_I can see a better time_

_When all our dreams come true"_

"You do a good drunk impression," he said, to Finn and Finn gave him a wide grin. Burt frowned in confusion, looking over at Finn.

"How do you know the lyrics?" Finn shrugged, and, in the instrumental break, he said;

"I guess I just listened to it so many times."

The beat picked up, when they band came, and Kurt made a failed imitation of Irish dancing that garnered a lot of laughter, and then began to sing, skipping back around;

_They got cars, big as bars_

_They got rivers of gold_

_But the wind blows right through you_

_It's no place for the old_

He wagged his finger at his dad, shaking his head, causing Burt to shake his head and roll his eyes whilst Carole laughed, patting his arm, and Finn snorted quite loudly.

_When you first took my hand_

_On a cold Christmas eve_

_You promised me Broadway_

_Was waiting for me_

He leant across the sofa back, looking at Finn with a mildly accusatory eye, wide smile still plastered on his face, and Finn gasped in fake-shock, and looked offended.

_You were handsome_

_You were pretty_

Finn came back in, leaping to his feet and spreading his arms open, palms facing up, in a questioning manner.

_Queen of New York city_

_When the band finished playing_

_They howled out for more_

They were singing together, each trying to be louder than the other, and drowning out MacGowan and MacColl, waving their fists at the ceiling to an imaginary band that was - for some reason - above them.

_Sinatra was swinging_

_All the drunks, they were singing_

_And we kissed on a corner_

_Danced through the night_

Kurt swayed along to the music, eyes falling onto his broom, and, when Finn had spotted his gaze and threw it to him, held it before him at arm's length, dancing around on the spot. Finn was moving in an ungainly way on the spot, swinging his long arms back and forth just about in time to the music.

_And the boys of the NYPD choir_

_Were singing, 'Galway Bay'_

_And the bells were ringing out_

_For Christmas day_

They raised their voices together in a loud joyous cry for the holiday season. It wasn't loud in an obnoxious way, but it had the same strength that it had had when they were singing in the car. It was the same warmth and security.

_You´re a bum you´re a punk_

_You´re an old slut on junk_

_Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed_

For the first time Finn stumbled on the lyrics, frowning and screwing up his eyes as he tried to work out whether he'd gotten it right and Kurt laughed at him as he shrugged in confusion.

_You scumbag you maggot_

_You cheap lousy faggot_

Kurt saw all three of them stare at him in shocked surprise when they word "_faggot_" just slipped out of his mouth, but it wasn't really that big a deal - it was just a song lyric written by someone who didn't know him and probably wasn't anymore racist than the next person. It was just a song, a song that couldn't hurt him unless he let it.

_Happy Christmas your arse I pray god it´s our last._

_And the boys of the NYPD choir_

_Still singing, 'Galway Bay'_

_And the bells were ringing out_

_Christmas day_

Kurt thrust the broom to the ground and round over to perch on the arm of the sofa next to his dad, arching his eyebrow even as he smiled. He crossed his right leg over left, resting his right elbow by his right hip and balancing his chin on top of his fist whilst Finn flopped down on the sofa, flinging his long arm across the back as they sang together.

_I could have been someone_

Finn got to his feet, fake frown firmly in place, and paced the floor in an angry manner, turning to give Kurt an angry glare.

_Well so could anyone_

_You took my dreams from me_

_When I first found you_

Kurt responded, hiding his smile, by leaping to his feet, keeping his eyebrow arched, and stalking around Finn as he looking at him accusingly, poking him in the chest with his index when his part came to an end.

_But I kept them with me, babe_

_I put them with my own_

_Can't make it all alone_

_Built my dreams around you_

Kurt wondered, vaguely, as Finn sung back to him with a pleading expression on his face, how much of Finn's behaviour this holiday had been acting. He'd gone from being uncomfortable at the idea of dancing with Kurt and unwilling to stand up for him to being happy to hug him and sing with him and throw himself in harms way…It was cynical and untrustworthy - especially after what had happened with Karofsky - but Kurt could not help but think it.

_And the boys of the NYPD choir_

_Still singing, 'Galway Bay'_

_And the bells were ringing out_

_Christmas day_

_Except_, he thought as they pulled their parents from the sofa they seemed more than happy to become one with, _family is everything to Finn. "Brother" isn't just a technicality; it's something he's comfortable with, and he wants…Finn wants a family…_

He found himself smiling even more as the music carried on in the background and Finn laughed, almost slipping on the wrapping paper as his mum held him up. Kurt reciprocated the hug that his dad gave him, glad that his dad hadn't ruined the holiday too much by bringing up Karofsky repeatedly, and happy that everything in their home had managed to fit itself into place without them having to really try.

* * *

**Next Time - Glittering: Kurt returns to Dalton Academy for the New Year's party that promises music, fun and hilarity with fireworks to outshine the heavens whilst discovering that the school contains some stars of its own. Meanwhile, Blaine struggles to adjust back to life at Dalton as it becomes more apparent that things are changing…**


	15. Glittering

**_Dear Readers,_**

**_A late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all, and I hope that this year will be a good one for you! A thank you to anyone who has reviewed, alerted or followed this story. Also, a quick note before the story; a warning that my updating will be erratic because I have a feeling that each chapter will be about this length which takes quite a bit of time to write and edit, and I have limited time to write, obviously. Either way, hope you enjoy this chapter!_**

**_Sopphires._**

* * *

**The Scholarship **

**Episode 15: Glittering**

_It's a really quiet ride with my dad up to Dalton. I'm re-packed and prepared to face the boys with a little bit of trepidation inside me. I'm looking forward to seeing Keats again, and I need to see Blaine because I haven't forgotten what happened to him, but the rest of them…It might not be so good, but I'm not going to let that bother me. I go here too, and I have a right to my own views. Nothing can change that._

"Alright?" asked Burt, opening the car boot and taking out one of Kurt's suitcases. Kurt grabbed the other and nodded. He hadn't been exactly sure whether he was meant to wear his uniform or not – it wasn't term yet, but it was a Dalton event – so he'd put it on just in case. Looking around he could see several boys strolling across the grounds in coats and hats and gloves, but they were all wearing the grey trousers.

"I'm going to go to the house," he said, and Burt nodded and followed him round to Jefferson house. There weren't many people there, but the ones that were gave him nods as he moved up to his room and dumped his stuff. Burt smiled down at him as he threw the broom onto the bed.

"Still don't understand why you need that." Kurt just grinned and shrugged. "Have a good term, and come back whenever…try and drop us a line more often." Kurt nodded and was crushed into an embrace by his dad.

"I'll see you soon," he said, honestly, and his dad nodded and left his room. A minute later he was assaulted by Daniel.

"_KUUUUUUURT_!" he yelled, knocking Kurt off his feet and flat onto his back. Kurt groaned, loudly, and noticed that Daniel was still crushing his middle.

"Um, hi Daniel," he wheezed, and Daniel continued to squeezed him. Kurt was not entirely sure what he wanted, but if this was revenge for the argument with Jeff then he'd certainly learnt his lesson. "Can't breathe!" he gasped, poking Daniel's back. Daniel, slowly and with the impression of someone that didn't particularly want to let him go, released him. Kurt breathed in a large lungful of air, and Daniel pulled him up.

"It's good to see you!" he said, green eyes sparkling. "It's _really_ good to see you!" he threw his arms back around Kurt and Kurt stumbled again, but stayed on his feet, patting his back.

"Yeah, it's great to see you too, Daniel." he replied, completely sincerely because the little guys had really grown on him.

"You got a broom!" he exclaimed excitedly, and then looked up at Kurt. "Sorry I drop out of contact…Flint was having an _emotional breakdown_!" he said, shaking his head from side to side. "It was _not_ pretty!" Kurt blinked at him in confusion.

"Really? So, it wasn't about what happened with Jeff?" Daniel mirrored Kurt's look of confusion. Kurt sighed. "I had a row with Jeff, and then you stopped talking to me – I thought the two things were connected." Daniel shook his head emphatically.

"We don't take sides," he said, calmly. "Now, come to the foyer! It's where we gather!" Before Kurt had time to sigh in relief that Jeff hadn't told everyone about what happened and that Trinity weren't mad at him, he was being dragged out of Franklin and towards the main building. Daniel was grinning and yelling greetings at everyone they passed and quickly they came to a stop in the foyer.

"_Kurt_!"

Kurt had one chance to look at a large crowd of boys milling around in the hall before he was leapt at by quite a large number of bodies. He stumbled in shock and saw the blonde head of Jeff and, by the pressure being exerted on his middle, he knew that the rest of Trinity had grabbed him too.

"Um, hi!" he said when he was released and saw that – as well as Jeff, Michael and Gabriel – Flint, Nick and David were hugging him too. Thad gave him a small smile and patted his upper arm, "Nice to see you all too," he said, awkwardly, because he wasn't sure where he stood with them.

"Hey, man, you know what happened," he looked over at Jeff who was grinning at him. "just forget it."

"Oh yeah," said David, groaning and pulling a face. "the email thing, we're so friggin' sorry." Nick rolled his eyes.

"That's what we get for leavin' the admin up to Blaine," he shook his head. "Everyone take important note of that; _never_ let Blaine be hired as anyone's secretary." They all laughed at that, even Kurt.

"Why can't I be anyone's secretary?" Everyone jumped and spun around, grinning at Blaine in disbelief. Kurt looked at him intensely, noting that, whilst he was marginally pale, he did not that worse for wear considering everything.

"_Blainey_!" they all yelled, except Thad, and flung themselves at him, this time including Thad. Blaine staggered, laughing, and Kurt grinned as he hugged them all individually before pushing his way through and wrapping his arms around Kurt.

"Are you okay?" Kurt asked, seriously, and Blaine nodded, pulling off a bright pink scarf with flowers on it. Kurt raised his eyebrows, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"I'm fine," he said whilst Jeff took the scarf from him, holding it between one thumb and finger with a look of revulsion on his face.

"_Blaine_," said Nick with a very serious voice. "_why_ did you buy this?" Blaine rolled his eyes.

"I didn't…Cooper gave it to me." There were some rolled eyes at that, and Kurt just shook his head whilst Jeff flung the scarf back at Blaine.

"Why are you wearing it?" demanded Flint. Blaine shrugged.

"Me and Coop…" he trailed off. "We've come a _long_ way this holiday…" he shivered and shook his head. "It's kind of depressing that this was, in some ways, my best Christmas." Kurt raised his eyebrow sharply at that, wondering what could have _possibly_ happened to him that made a holiday where he was nearly _killed_ his best Christmas.

"Seriously, Blaine?" demanded David, looking incredulous. "_This_ was your best Christmas?" Blaine rolled his eyes, running her hands along the scarf.

"Well, since mum left at any rate…" he trailed off, still running his hands along the scarf. There was an awkward pause before Sebastian appeared behind Blaine. The other boys, including Kurt, suppressed their laughter as Blaine frowned in confusion at their very tight faces. "What…?" he asked, eyes narrowed. Flint let out a small giggle, and Blaine immediately spun around, colliding with Sebastian's chest.

"Hello Blaine," he said, calmly whilst Blaine righted himself and flushed scarlet. "How was the rest of your holiday?" Blaine grinned at him.

"Christmas was brilliant!" he said, and then Wes came crashing into Sebastian before anything else happened.

"Hey mate," Sebastian staggered and clapped Wes on the back. "land in hospital?" Sebastian shook his head, righting himself and straightening his blazer.

"No, they seemed to have exhausted all their plans to do me harm," he spoke very evenly and dryly and, going by the laughter of the other boys, it clearly wasn't anything serious, but Kurt still found himself a little alarmed by his words. Wes clapped his arm around Sebastian's shoulders and then winked at Blaine.

"I see your taste has gone considerably downhill, Sebastian," Sebastian blinked at him and then looked at the scarf.

"I see what you mean," he said, examining it. "it is an abomination."

"You didn't buy it?" asked Wes in surprise and Sebastian shook his head. He looked surprised and confused, and barely waved at Liam who had come wandering over. "What did you get him?" Sebastian looked at Blaine who flushed. Sebastian winked.

"Our secret," There was a pause before everyone looked between them with shrewd eyes, and then Nick exclaimed, loud enough for the whole foyer to hear;

"_Holy crap_! _You deflowered Blaine_!" Blaine went scarlet and flung his hands over his face whilst Sebastian snorted, breaking out into laughter whilst everyone gaped at them. Sebastian continued to laugh whilst Blaine just shook his head, face still hidden. Kurt felt his mouth drop open, feeling jealousy flow through him.

"I didn't deflower him," said Sebastian, once he'd gained control of himself. "Your mind works in strange ways, Nicolas." Wes narrowed his eyes so hard that he was squinting at Sebastian through his dark lashes.

"Are you sure?" Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I think I'd remember sleeping with Blaine, and I also think, if I did do it, I would be shouting it from the rooftops – in a more respectable manner." The boys laughed, and Blaine kicked at him with a face that was still red, and then cuffed Nick around the back of his head.

"Sorry!" he said, holding up his hands. "I just thought…" he broke off, laughing to himself. "It was the way you went red and then Sebastian winked. It was…_suggestive_…" Blaine whacked Nick very furiously with his scarf, and Kurt tried to ignore the swoop of relief that he was experiencing.

"David, where's-"

"He wasn't on our flight," said David, before Sebastian could even finish his question. "The whole place was _mental_ over the break, and Cam's on lockdown so he's not coming."

"Really?" David nodded, sadly.

"Yeah, it fuckin' sucks, but he'll be here when term begins so…" he shrugged.

"Where's Morrison, then?" questioned Flint. David jerked his head in the general direction of the Hall.

"Crawford, visiting Lottie." There were some nods, and Kurt felt himself tense a little bit at the mention of her name. His understanding and perspective of Charles may have shifted a little bit, and he'd always felt a little bit sorry for Lottie since Elise had told him about her, but he was still wary – and had every right to be.

"Hey guys," everyone looked round and saw Fred standing there, minus his left eyebrow it seemed, but grinning nonetheless. Kurt watched as the others hugged him and went to embrace him last, feeling a little bit curious and sad after what Jeff had yelled at him.

"You look well," commented Blaine with mild surprise, and Kurt suddenly noticed that Trinity were dancing away to hug some other people.

"I like your new style," commented Flint, gesturing to the eyebrow. Fred touched it subconsciously and laughed a little nervously.

"Yeah, mum and dad blew up the motel room again so I ended up with the grandparents." he rolled his eyes. "That's why I "_look well_" as you say…" he sighed and then shrugged. Jeff rubbed his shoulder in a sympathetic manner.

"Grandparents can be pain," agreed Flint. "My grandma wouldn't stay in the same room as me or look me in the eye, and my granddad…" He sighed. "It was pretty crap." There were some more shaken heads before Fred grinned again.

"This is depressing!" he commented blithely. "On the plus side my dad had gotten a lot meetings with companies interested in his ideas so we might be able to get a house soon." he sounded incredibly bright and hopeful, and Kurt couldn't understand how, if he didn't have a _house_, he could afford Dalton.

"That's great!" said David, punching his shoulder as Sebastian, Wes and Liam moved off to talk to Mac and Travis. "Keep looking for the silver lining!"

"Can someone give me a hand with that?" came Chris' voice and everyone turned to him in alarm at the glum, depressed, note to his voice.

"What's up?" said Fred, immediately, wrapping an arm around his shoulder as Jeff and Blaine exchanged sad, worried, looks.

"You know what's wrong…" he said, swallowing, and Kurt was shocked to see that there were tears in Chris' eyes. "My family is just…" he shook his head. "My siblings…" he bit down on the inside of his lip. "I'm glad I'm back," he said, softly.

"I'll find you a silver lining, mate," said Drew, appearing with a grin from behind them. They all cried out, throwing themselves at him, and Chris hugged him tightly. "I mean, no one talked to me, but I still had a relatively good Christmas…I think I'm now a horse whisperer." Everyone stared at him with raised eyebrows and confused expressions. "What? The horses are my friends!" Kurt frowned in bemused confusion whilst the others laughed.

"Oh, Drew, I won another bet!" exclaimed Blaine, suddenly. Drew raised his eyebrow and folded his arms.

"Oh yeah, which one?"

"I got the Rev to say "_promiscuous_", but I don't have any proof…" Drew rolled his eyes

"Was he describing Sebastian per chance?" The others laughed whilst Blaine poked his tongue out at Drew. Drew rolled his eyes again and then pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and clicked his fingers and a pen from Chris appeared in his hand. Kurt caught a glimpse of a list written in scrawling handwriting with several things crossed off. Drew raised his knee and made a firm line on the page.

"What's that?" he asked in confusion and Blaine rolled his eyes and laughed.

"Me and Drew made a list of bets of what we could get religious people to say and/or do. So far I've won all of them."

"Yeah, well, it would help if the Amish actually _spoke_ to me!" said Drew, folding up the piece of paper and tucking it away. Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Amish, you're _Amish_?" Drew pulled a face and made a noncommittal movement with his head.

"It's complicated, but…my mum ran away from the community and met dad…They got married, had me, but when things started to break down – I was about seven – my mum left my dad and took me back. They accepted us back, blah blah, but I found the whole thing a bit weird, and then my dad turned back up because he didn't want me raised that way and said that – as long as he got to choose where I went to school – I could stay there." He shrugged with a broad grin. "And that's basically my life story!"

Kurt nodded, in mild disbelief, at him. He wasn't stupid enough to insult them because he got the distinct impression that Drew was someone who would flip out if Kurt insulted his family – and Kurt knew far better than to pick a fight with Drew – but was still, internally, wondering how Drew was as sane as he was. Fred, Chris and Drew moved away a little bit, talking in soft voices.

"Is Chris okay?" he asked, immediately, looking over at Jeff. Jeff sighed, shuffled his feet and then looked at the others. After a little bit of silent communication, David opened his mouth to speak;

"Chris has a very large family, and they all have big problems. His dad was a chain-smoker and now he has terminal lung cancer-" Kurt's breath caught in his throat and glanced at Jeff who gave him a weak smile. "He has _nine_ older siblings! Three sets of twins and one set of triplets." Kurt raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"It runs in the family, I think," said Nick with a frown. David shrugged, and then Jeff took over the story.

"The eldest set of twins both have leukaemia, and then the triplets are a smoker, alcoholic and drug addict, then the next set of twins one's chronically obese – she comfort eats, I think – and the other's got _really_ bad agoraphobia – he can't leave their house. Then in the last set of twins one has _terrible _paranoia and the other has bad bipolar disorder." Kurt's face had gone completely slack in shock, looking over at Chris in stunned sadness.

"Unsurprisingly, their mother has quite bad depression considering everything she has to deal with. Chris is only sane 'cause he reads _so much_ and has his art and then there was the studying…" said Flint, taking a breath and double-checking Chris' hunched figure. "He was skipped ahead a year, and he got into Dalton, but he didn't get the scholarship so he couldn't come…He spent a year off just studying for the exam so that when it came around he got full marks and a full academic scholarship."

There was a sad pause in which Kurt felt his heart go out to Chris. He looked utterly crushed, but Kurt had never seen him as anything other than a relatively ordinary guy with a passion for reading and painting. Now, though, Kurt could see the weight and pain that was on his shoulders. Kurt had to admit that he was very good at hiding it – or forgetting it, he supposed – but right now, just after he'd had to deal with all of it, he couldn't.

A loud crash shook them from their saddened stupor. Looking around Kurt saw that Juri had collided with a pile of suitcases, sending luggage sprawling across the foyer floor. There was a collective wince, and then Chris, Drew and Fred were running over to their friend, Trinity on their heels, and they pulled him up and hugged him. Kurt grinned and waited for Juri to be escorted over before hugging him tightly.

"It's good to see you," he exclaimed as the smaller boy hugged him back.

"I am glad to see you too." replied Juri with a grin, bright blue eyes shining with an unusual brightness considering the flight that he'd just been on.

"Hey little guy," said David, lifting him off his feet.

"How's Ivan?" asked Flint as they all embraced the Russian.

"Good!" said Juri. "He got over flu!"

"I told you that you were overreacting!" said Chris, ruffling up his black hair. Juri gave him a glare, but then shook his head.

"I did not…take the risk…" he shook his head, and they all smiled, kindly, at him.

"How was your sister?" asked Nick with a curious look on his face. Juri rolled his eyes

"_Half_-sister," he corrected and then shrugged. "Same…tell me to repent…" he rolled his eyes once more and shook his head in clear annoyance. "Her husband is jerk." Everyone sighed in sympathy.

"Tristan was a pain in the arse," commented Nick, eventually. "and Dad was just _writing_ and _writing_! I swear he forgot that it was Christmas."

"Is he working on a new book?" asked Chris, face perking up, and Nick rolled his eyes.

"You know I can't tell you that," he said with a grin and then winked. "_Yes_!" he exclaimed, looking incredibly excited. "I've read some of it, and I know you, Chris, are going to _love_ it!" Chris sighed, raising his eyes to the ceiling in thanks.

"Oh good! I'm beginning to despair at modern fiction. There's a lot of trash floating around, and it takes a serious amount of work to find the gems. I swear, this must be how gold prospectors felt!" Everyone laughed loudly at that and the doors swung open and Kurt fell his mouth drop open in shock as people let out delighted cries.

Standing there were a large selection of Crawford girls – Jenny, Elise, Cat, Ros, Bea, Abby and Michelle to put a name to a few – and in the centre of the group was a pretty, slim, girl with golden blonde hair that could be no one other than Lottie, and _Morrison Barringer-Tanner_, renowned child actor, and _Hollywood A-lister_! It was _impossible_! He was in some of Kurt's _favourite programmes_ – HH2 for example, in which he was Kurt's _favourite character_ – and he was completely rich, good looking and- _and engaged to Charles Lancaster's sister_! _What the hell_?

"Morry!" exclaimed Fred, breaking Kurt's shocked stupor, and rushing towards the actor, colliding with him and sending the celebrity smashing to the floor. Everybody winced as Wes had leapt at his girlfriend, pulling her into a tight embrace. Jeff's face brightened and he dashed towards Cat, lifting her off her feet, and Elise was the only person that ran towards the group. David embraced her, kissing her nose and both of them giggling.

"Get off him, Fred!" exclaimed Drew, hauling Fred off the ground and then lifting up Morrison who was groaning. "You don't want to kill him!"

"And if you did…" Chris drew his finger across his neck before Morrison pulled both him and Drew into a tight hug.

"I missed you guys!" he said, dragging Lottie past the startled Freshmen and mildly surprised others to be mobbed by the Warblers. "Well, not you David!" he said, shoving the dark-skinned boy away and heaving Juri off the ground with his hug.

"We missed you too!" said Flint, grinning, and Kurt noticed that Blaine looked like someone had just announced it was Christmas all over again.

"_Morrison_!" screamed Trinity, flying across the foyer and leaping onto him. He stumbled, and Jeff and Nick grabbed him before sandwiching him. Kurt noticed that Michelle was actually staying away from Blaine as Ros and Bea hugged the group, and Lottie stood to the side, awkwardly.

"Oh, it's good to be back!" he said, running a hand over his face and wrapping his arm around Lottie and Fred's shoulders. "It was _crazy_ there!" he shook his head and Kurt blinked in shock, unable to believe that Elise had not bothered to tell him _that_ when he'd asked who he was!

"What happened?" asked Sebastian, appearing behind Morrison and frowning. "What _actually_ happened?" Morrison looked round and smiled at him, Wes, Jen and Liam.

"Well, to cut a long story short…Harper and Daley came back on the same day and blew up at QT and Cam respectively. I actually thought Harper would _stab_ QT when he realised how close they came to letting it out, and Daley was screaming and _crying_ about how Cam had just ruined himself and how could he be so selfish, blah blah blah…"

"Did Cameron let on?" asked Sebastian, seriously, and Morrison shook his head.

"No, he took it _really_ well. I'm so damn proud of him!" he grinned around the group, and Kurt's mind was whirring very fast. He'd heard them mention Cameron that day of the first snowball fight. Something _bad_ had happened going by Sebastian's angry reaction, and the _day after_ – that _evening_ to be precise – the story about _Cameron Gaylin_ had come out about the bird-eating. They couldn't know him too, could they? And Daley, well that would be Daley Kellerman, Morrison's best friend who _was_ in his Senior year…

"Is he still mad at him? I had no contact."

"I know," said Morrison, looking a little bit more stressed. "like I said, whole place was mental. Their dad tore into Harper for attacking QT and-"

_Holy Prada_, he thought, tuning out of the conversation after the annoyed sounds that the rest made at the mention of QT, _they know QT! They know the band QT! I do not believe this! I had no idea __**famous people**__ came to Dalton! I mean, their children is one thing, but this…I had no idea!_

"Well, at least their single didn't get to number one," said David. "Alecia did us proud."

"I know!" said Morrison. "I sent her an email saying thanks the moment the news came in."

"We called her!" exclaimed David. "Rosanne rang her, and we were all screaming down the phone…I'm pretty sure she thinks we're crazy, but she also said she hopes Daley's okay…" Morrison nodded.

"Yeah, that's what she said to me too." There was an incredulous silence before Jeff burst out laughing.

"You guys are crazy!" said Jeff, shaking his head and laughing.

"What? _Your_ mum can kill people with her bare hands!" Jeff kicked out at Flint who dodged it, laughing, and Drew, Chris and Fred just looked at each other and shook their heads as they snorted.

Suddenly, as everyone was laughing and jabbing at each other, Morrison's gaze locked onto Kurt. He narrowed his light blue eyes, as if he was trying to work out whether he knew Kurt, and then a grin burst across his boyish, good-looking, features, looking at his utterly silent and quiet fiancée.

"You're Kurt, right?" he questioned and extended his hand. Kurt blinked at him in surprise as everyone looked at him. Kurt, not entirely what was going on, accepted his hand and shook it firmly.

"Yes, I'm Kurt…no need to ask who you are." Morrison laughed, letting go of his hand and working it around Lottie's waist.

"It's nice to meet you, I've heard _a lot_ about you!" Kurt raised an eyebrow in shock, not entirely sure how an acclaimed actor could have heard of him.

"Really?"

"Oh yes!" said Morrison, nodding with a grin. "Fred's been filling me in on all that's been going on here, and you got mentioned quite a bit." Kurt nodded to him, looking at Fred who winked with the eye that had an eyebrow, and put his hands in his trouser pockets.

"I see." Morrison narrowed his eyes.

"By the look on your face I'd guess that you didn't know I was coming," Kurt shook his head, pursing his lips and glared at Elise who grinned innocently back at him.

"I was informed that you were "_lovely_" and that I'd meet you, but _no one_," he glared around at his amused group of friends. "bothered to mention who you were." There were stifled laughs, and eventually Elise spoke;

"I'm sorry, Kurt, but the look on your face was _priceless_! I couldn't miss it!"

"It was damned funny!" chipped in Ros, and Kurt sent a glare her way. Ros leaned a little bit into Bea, but said nothing more.

"And this is Lottie, I don't think you've met." Lottie gave him a nervous smile and extended her hand. Kurt could not see an engagement ring as he shook her hand, but noticed it hanging from a chain around her neck. It was small and traditional; the golden band slim and delicate and the diamond not more than a couple of millimetres high or wide. It sent different light patterns dancing across the pale skin of her neck and when she withdrew her hand from his she touched it, nervously, after she'd noticed his gaze on it.

The pause was distinctly awkward, everybody shuffling their feet and not really sure what to say. Morrison glanced down at his girlfriend with a sharpness to his blue eyes that melted when he saw her frightened expression. Elise glanced across at Cat who shrugged and looked at Ros. Ros took her arm away from Bea's shoulders and clapped her hands together in a business-like manner.

"As the oldest since Sebastian and the others skedaddled-" Kurt raised an eyebrow at the word but didn't question it. "-off, I say that we sort a couple of things out." She seemed to have a certain authority as no one disagreed. "Lottie, got somethin' ya want to say?" Lottie looked up at Ros, clearly pleading her to not make her speak, but Ros glared her down with a look that was rather similar to Sebastian's. Lottie looked at Morrison who took both her hands in his with a kind smile.

"I wanted," she said in a very quiet voice, her accent the only thing that made her voice sound like Charles'. "to tell you how sorry I was for my brother's actions. I feel like most of the blame falls onto my shoulders because I did not look after him the way I was meant to. I let him down and then you got hurt." Kurt raised an eyebrow, again, for lack of anything better to do.

"Look, Lottie," said Cat with a frown. "you did your best! You raised someone who is only _a year_ younger than you! I don't even understand how you managed that so the fact that you're both walking and talking is a huge achievement. No one looked after _you_ until you came here." Kurt looked between them as Lottie shook her head more decisively and surely than anything else that she'd done previously.

"No, I should have done things differently!" There was a hopeless, exasperated, silence.

"Like what?" questioned Bea, worriedly. "What would you have done differently?" Lottie shrugged, and Kurt was beginning to feel uncomfortable, like this was less about what Charles had done to him and more what Lottie was doing to herself.

"I would have said it differently. I ought to have known that he would do that, he is my brother."

"He didn't _want_ your help, though!" exclaimed Elise, clearly angry now. "I'm sick and _tired_ of you doing this to yourself, Lottie! You don't think that Bea and Jeff haven't told me that all this holiday you've sat and tried to _starve yourself to death?_! You wanted your brother to be happy, and you felt guilty about being happy when he was so miserable, _what's wrong with that_?" Kurt swallowed, noticing the intense stare that both Ros and Morrison were giving him.

He felt like that he ought to step in and say something, but what? Say that it wasn't that bad? That it didn't bother him? He got the feeling that she'd see straight through that. He felt bad for her, though, because she was so pale and delicate – like she was made of tissue paper, and she was tearing herself apart, ripping off the sellotape that held her together. He couldn't say that it had mainly frightened him because he'd been there before. Because that had led to his life being threatened. That this time he hadn't thought he would leave.

He looked over at Blaine, standing between Flint and Bea, and looked for some answers and guidance in his hazel eyes. Blaine, unlike everyone else, knew about Karofsky and understood why what had happened had been so bad for him. Blaine gave him a weak smile and then a half shrug. He didn't know what Kurt should say, but his eyes were telling him to say something quickly.

"Look, Lottie," he said, breaking into the argument that was going between the three Junior girls. "I can't pretend that what Charles did to me didn't…_hurt_ me, but…" he looked over at Blaine who gave him a reassuring smile. "it's not the worst thing that's ever happened to me…I came to Dalton because I had my _life threatened_. Yes, it was horrible and I _never_ want it to happen again, but…there's no point you tearing yourself apart over it; in the end it doesn't change anything." Happy smiles were sent his way by all the boys and girls in the circle, and Morrison mouthed a "_thank you_" at him as he ruffled up his light brown hair.

"See," he said with a pointed look. "everything that we've been saying! I spoke to Charlie over Christmas, just like I said, and he's…well, he's not _great_, but he's really just _lonely_. I honestly think that if Al gets back in touch with him he'll be fine…"

"I think that would help Al, too," muttered David. "I swear he gets paler every time I look at him – or his hair's getting darker." There was a pause in which everyone acknowledged that his hair was _not_ getting darker.

"Thank you, Kurt," she said with a voice that was hoarse, and Kurt gave her a small smile in return. He did not know what to say to her because, in the end, she was more hurt by what had happened to Kurt than Kurt was. He guessed that her brother was her responsibility and that it all fell onto her when Charles was not remorseful.

"_Happiness_!" yelled Nick, randomly, at that and jumped onto Lottie and Morrison. Jeff took that as his cue to jump onto Kurt, wrapping Juri into the hug too. Kurt was mildly surprised, but patted him on the back anyway. Everyone else was laughing at the pair, and Thad, who had been entirely silent and – if Kurt was being honest – _forgettable_, pulled them away, holding them back by their collars as they bounced on the spot.

Kurt frowned as he properly looked at Thad and noticed that his cheeks appeared rather hollow. Kurt wasn't sure whether it was the lighting, but his eyes looked completely dead. Kurt blinked as Thad stepped backwards, disappearing into the line of blazers as Jeff dashed over to his girlfriend and Nick bounded into Flint's arms – for whatever reason – and faded away.

He saw that Morrison was staring at Blaine through narrowed eyes, and that most people were also shooting him looks out of the corners of their eyes. They were being subtle about, letting Flint talk about the way that his dad and his granddad had critiqued his performance, and cry as he explained his uncle had told him that he could no longer pretend to love him, but they seemed more focused on Blaine then Flint as he spoke.

"That's friggin' terrible!" exclaimed Drew in the end. "Man, I thought my extended family treated me like shit, but at least they don't _pretend_ to love me or anything!" Kurt frowned at him, directing his gaze onto him instead of Jeff who was watching Blaine as surreptitiously as he could.

"I thought you said they'd accepted you?" Drew rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"They accepted us _back_, but when I agreed to go to Dalton, and _then_ said I loved it I was "_shunned_" for, you know, accepting the other life kind of thing – except it's kind of mean 'cause it wasn't my choice." He shrugged again. "At least I have the horses." Kurt shot him a slightly cynical frown at that whilst Flint wiped his eyes.

"I can't believe your _uncle_ would do that," said David with a frown, looking over at Flint. "I get that your dad's family are…you know…but your mum is _so cool_! I mean, are you sure there's no way you could live with her?" Flint sent him a half glare, sniffing.

"I _can't_," said Flint. "you know that she doesn't want me. She didn't- she didn't speak to me this Christmas, and she-" he broke off, a look of anguish on his face and Kurt guessed that, like it seemed so many among his friends at Dalton, his parents did not have a happy relationship. "Besides she's moving out to LA _fulltime_, David. Even if she wanted me there's _no way_ my dad would ever let that happen, _no way_." There was a moment of sad silence before Nick shook his head, frowning around the group.

"Come on, can't we keep the cheer going for even a _little_ while?" There were all laughs and chuckles and Kurt was surprised to see that Ros had fixed her gaze upon him.

"Oh, I should tell you what happened to the guys who book the motel room next to us, before my parents blew it up-" there were rolled eyes as it seemed Fred's proclivity for explosions was genetic. "-because it was _hilarious_!"

"See, this is what we want!" exclaimed Nick, gesturing to Fred with a grin, and everyone rolled their eyes again and shook their heads.

"Shh!" said Fred, glaring at him. "Anyway, these two guys came in, like, two days after I got back and they kind of arrived with some giant storm! They rolled their car in blasting out music, like shouted for a room and stormed in. Two hours later there were sounds like gunshots and, of course, we didn't do anything because we make a load of noise but some of other people did and there were just more bangs and they didn't answer the door so a friggin' _armed response_ unit came. Like, full on SWAT team and arrested them! Then," he carried on before anyone could interrupt. "it turns out that – wait for it – they were playing with friggin' _party poppers_!"

Everyone stared at him in shock. Some people snorted or let out of huffs of surprised and amused laughter. Kurt, smiling to himself, shook his head in disbelief. How could two people playing with party poppers be stupid enough to get themselves arrested?

"Why didn't they just open the door?" asked Chris in confusion. "That would have saved a lot of trouble." Fred shrugged.

"I don't know…it was _totally_ bizarre! But they weren't stoned or crazy or anything because the next day they were back in the motel like nothing had happened! There was this family that was there and the woman took one look at them, screamed and went hurtling out of the place, dragging this one kid behind her, got in the car and drove off and left her husband, the other kid and all their stuff behind!" The group burst out laughing as one, and Kurt shook his head some more at the ridiculousness of the story.

"Hey Kurt," said Ros, suddenly. "Can I talk to ya for a sec?" Kurt looked up at her in surprise, and then glanced across at Jeff who gave him a tight, mildly apologetic, smile.

"Sure," he said, stepping out of the circle and moving away from them. He watched the way Ros squeezed Bea's shoulder before walking towards Kurt. A couple of second later Bea followed her over to him.

"Jeff told you what happened to Bea," said Ros, steadily, and Kurt shrugged, glancing between the two of them.

"He told me that you were being…"_beaten_" by your parents; that's it." Ros nodded in a succinct manner, and Bea shifted, leaning closer to Ros.

"Alright, how about this, 'cause you're one of us, I fill you in." Kurt shrugged again, holding up his palms.

"I don't want you to tell me anything you don't want, especially not over something like this." Kurt might not enjoy the boys being shrouded constantly in secrecy and telling him things only when they remembered that Kurt might need to know them, but he didn't want them to tell him things that they didn't want; that would be like him telling them all about Karofsky just because of Charles…

"It's okay, Kurt," said Bea, softly. "you're one of us…You know how- well, you don't know it feels to be…" she swallowed, looking shifty. "but you're- you have had bad things done to you too." She looked up at Ros who squeezed her shoulder. Kurt nodded, giving Bea a smile. Bea swallowed and looked at Ros who rolled her eyes.

"Sometimes I think that I'm the only person at Crawford with a voice that says anything useful or meaningful." Kurt snorted at that, agreeing with it completely. "Bea came to Crawford because her parents were rich and this set of schools has _quite_ the reputation amongst the affluent." Kurt nodded again, having seen that quite clearly from his selection of friends.

"I hadn't noticed," he muttered, dryly, and got a hearty chuckle in response.

"Yes, well, Bea got-" Ros broke off, suddenly, and glared down at her friend. "You know what; _screw this_! I'm not going to be your spokesperson!" Both of them blinked in shock as she turned around and stormed off to the group of Seniors that included Sebastian and Wes some way across the hall. Kurt raised an eyebrow at Bea as she tugged one of her ringlets, pulling the ginger lock of hair down until it was almost straight before releasing it and letting it spring back into its normal shape.

"Is she alright?" asked Kurt in mild concern and Bea nodded slowly, biting down onto her rather raw looking lower lip.

"Yes, I think so…she's just…what with what _Tom_-" she cut herself off, looking up at Kurt hopelessly as she noticed his eyebrow arching in confusion. "Oh, I don't!" She threw her hands over her face. "I'm not meant to talk about it!" she exclaimed, voice rather high, and attracting the attention of the little clump of Juniors.

"Everything alright?" asked Elise, dashing over to the smaller girl's side. Bea shook her head and began to mumble whilst Kurt stared at her in bemused confusion, not entirely sure what had just happened. "Oi, Cat!" the brunette wandered over with a frown, and then they guided the trembling Bea away. Kurt turned to his group of friends.

"What the hell just happened?" he demanded, and the rest looked at each other and then shrugged.

"What did you say?" asked Jeff, taking a step forward with a frown. Kurt held up his hands and then sighed.

"Not much…they said that they were going to tell me what happened to Bea, but Ros said that she wasn't her spokesperson and stormed off, and then Bea mentioned something about a guy called _Tom_ and-" he broke off in surprise as the atmosphere around the circle changed dramatically. There was a moment of tense silence. David swallowed heavily. Blaine went pale. Thad looked at the floor with closed eyes. Nick began to scratch his thumb with his middle finger. Jeff's hands balled into fists. Morrison took a very deep breath. The other people averted their gazes.

"No wonder she got distressed…" muttered David as Kurt looked between the others, taken aback – and more than a little bit worried – by the change in atmosphere.

"Give me a moment," said Lottie, softly, squeezing Morrison's hand until he met her gaze. He gave her a small smile, and then she slid out of circle, running towards the group, and Kurt watched her long blonde hair sway from left to right and shine in the lights.

"Are you all alright?" he asked, quietly, and got a round of curt nods in reply. He looked over at Blaine who lifted his mouth into a tired smile, but gave Kurt no further indication of what was wrong with the name Tom.

"Nick," said Jeff, finally, unclenching his fists and looking at the dark haired boy. "I think you may have to abandon your happiness plans." Nick folded his arms, defiant expression falling into place, and Kurt found himself smiling a little bit – waiting for whatever was coming next.

"Jeffery Sterling," he said, very slowly. "I proclaim thee a _heathen_!" Kurt's eyebrow rose sharply in surprise, even as his smile became more defined. "I accuse thee of devil-worship and-" laughter began to ripple round the circle as Jeff looked at Nick with a completely bemused expression, clearly unaware where the insults were coming from. "-you shall bow down and worship me for I am the source of happiness."

Everyone but Nick burst out laughing as Jeff, directing a sarcastic look of devotion at Nick, bent his knees, craning his neck so that he could keep looking at Nick, and bowed down low. He swept his right hand in front of him and muttered;

"My lord," with as much false-spite he could manage. Nick, a grin breaking through his previously austere expression, pulled him upright and into a tight embrace.

"I forgive you my son," and they then proceeded to fake sob – loud enough to attract the attention of the entire foyer – into each other shoulders, proclaiming their love for one another whenever they took a break from "_crying_" to breathe.

Kurt could see Sebastian rolling his eyes and shaking his head in disdain whilst Wes, draped between Sebastian and Jenny, was laughing. Ros, elbow resting on Liam's shoulder, was giggling, bent double so that they were almost of equal height. The group of Crawford girls had their eyebrows raised, but El was giggling whilst Cat hid her head in her hands in embarrassment, and Lottie and Bea shared rolled eyes with smiles on their faces. Some of the younger students looked rather alarmed by the hubbub, but everyone else looked amused – if confused – by what was happening.

"_Why_ the hell did I decide to go out with him?" demanded Cat, moving over to the circle of Dalton boys. "He is an _embarrassment_!"

"Love makes you do crazy things, my dear," said David, flinging an arm over her shoulder and adopting a look of great wisdom. Cat elbowed him in the chest, and he stumbled, going to the floor and looking up at her with wide, hurt, eyes. "_Catherine_! How could you do this to me!" Cat put her hands over her face as David continued to writhe in "_pain_" on the floor as everyone laughed even harder.

"I give up!" said Cat, throwing her hands into the air and shaking her long brown hair. "I don't know why I bother!"

"We're not _that_ bad," pointed out Flint, managing to control his giggles. "Think about _Trinity_…" Cat let out a great groan as Trinity – as if the very mention of their name had summoned them – came bounding over.

"Catty!" they yelled as one, throwing their arms around her. "Catty, Catty, Cat, Cat!" They then proceeded to dance around her whilst chanting that over and over again. Kurt found that he was laughing so hard at the situation; Jeff and Nick were still sobbing and proclaiming their love for one another, that several tears were leaking from the corners of his eyes. Juri had been reduced to a little ball of hysterical laughter on the floor whilst Chris, Fred, Drew and Morrison were leaning against each other as they roared with laughter, and Thad was holding up both Blaine and Flint whilst he chuckled.

Cat looked ready to murder someone as she threw her most fearsome glare from underneath lashes that had serious amounts of mascara added to them at Trinity. Most of the foyer – if they weren't questioning the world's sanity – was laughing along with them, and Kurt got the distinct impression that this sought of thing happened regularly if they all gathered together, especially if they had just spent the holidays apart.

"Alright," said Sebastian, somehow catching hold of the three boys all at once and dragging them away from Catherine. "who gave them sugar? Anyone who withholds evidence will be executed along with the perpetrator and convicts." Everyone stared, blankly, back at him, trying not to burst out laughing.

"Um, Bastian," said Wes, coming over, still doubled up from all the hysteria. "I don't think anyone gave them sugar." Sebastian closed his eyes, and then released the boys who immediately leapt into the air, giggling, and galloped off.

"Someone remind me to murder them when there are less witnesses," he muttered, kissing Blaine swiftly before walking off. Kurt watched Blaine flush a little bit and squirm under everyone else's amused, knowing, gaze.

"Aww, baby Blainey's growing up," said David, putting on a baby voice and reaching over to pinch Blaine's cheeks. Blaine swatted his hand away, pouting, and Kurt laughed at the offended look on his face. The girls came walking back over.

"Alright," said El, putting her hands on Bea's shoulders. "let's just get this over with. Bea came here not that narrowed minded, but not really aware of her own sexuality. It took a little bit of time and a lot of chatting to Ros, but she came out and then went home for Christmas and came out…" she trailed off and looked down at Bea who sighed.

"My parents didn't exactly take it well…My dad thought maybe I'd been…" she looked up to the ceiling. "They thought I might have been infected by…_something_, and, um…He whipped me…and, um, they rubbed my skin raw with, um," Bea rolled up her sleeve and Kurt took in a huge breath of shock, some tears entering his eyes at the sight of the burns. "bleach. They kind of beat me again, and I ended up in hospital…" some tears fell down her face whilst Kurt pursed his lips, looking down at the floor.

"Bea, that is…" he swallowed, looking over at Blaine who was blinking rapidly whilst Flint had reached over and put his hand on his shoulder. "I would never have guessed," he said, finally. "You-" he shook his head. "You're really strong," he choked out. "To come back from that."

"I stay at Dalton and with Ros," said Bea with a little smile. "Mrs Husbands," Kurt raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Headmistress of Crawford," supplied Lottie, promptly, and Kurt nodded his thanks at her.

"She, um, wanted me to press charges, but I couldn't so…They're not allowed to come to Crawford so I stay here at Christmas and Easter and then over summer I hop around between Ros and El and Cat." Kurt looked down at her and saw her fragility but also her strength. He opened his arms a little bit, offering her a hug, and she gingerly stepped into his arms.

She was quite a bit shorter than him – about the height of Rachel he reckoned – and her grip was relatively weak, he guessed that her arms likely still hurt, but she rested her head against his shoulder, and Kurt found that her ginger ringlets tickled his neck and that he could sink his chin into her bushy hair. He could understand that Jeff needed to look after her because if it was the one year anniversary of the event than she was likely wracked with bad memories.

He put his hands on her shoulder as she stepped back, hastily wiping her eyes, and felt like he should offer some words of comfort or advice because he had been through terrible things too, but physical attacks was something that he was unfamiliar with.

"You're going to tell me that I've made it through the worse, aren't you?" she guessed and Kurt snorted because that was the only thing that had come into his mind.

"I was, yes, but instead I could tell that you'll never forget it and it will plague you, but…you look around and see the good that comes from the bad. I only came because I had my life threatened, but I don't- I almost don't mind because of all my friends." Bea nodded, wiping her watery eyes, and Ros came over to sling an arm around her shoulder and hug her.

"See, told ya you could do it." Bea nodded, looking up at her and face loosening as a result of the comfort that Ros seemed to offer her.

"Can I ask you a question?" asked Kurt, and Ros nodded.

"Yeah, why not."

"Are you two dating?" There was a pause before everyone burst out laughing. Even Bea began to giggle as they all laughed, and Kurt, arching his eyebrow in mild annoyance, stared round at them until Ros stopped.

"No, I have a girlfriend. Name's Grace, goes to St Emily's." Kurt frowned for a second, trying to remember why he knew the name, before his eyes went wide in shock.

"St Emily's! Isn't that _Garfield's_ sister school?" he demanded, and everyone nodded.

"Yep," said Ros, glowering slightly. "and they're just as bad."

"There's, um," said Morrison, starting slowly. "There's this sort of…_secret_ LGBT community in the two schools because they're next to each other like Dalton and Crawford. Grace, who's a Prefect, is the only-" Morrison broke off with a frown, looking over at Ros for clarification. "Is she the only one that's out now?" Ros nodded.

"Yeah, she gets a lot of stick from those sons-of-bitches, but she's a Prefect, and she got me and her friends so she's holding it together." Kurt nodded, knowing that feeling very well, but something else crept into his mind.

"Are they boarding schools?" he asked and there was a round of nods. He felt his face fall a little because that would mean living with it 24/7, like two inescapable versions of McKinley.

"They're our arch nemeses," said Jeff, cracking his knuckles ominously. "for _so_ many reasons."

"We'll kick their ass in Lacrosse," said Nick confidently. "Right Drew?" Drew nodded, a grin spreading across his face.

"I can't wait!" he said gleefully. "We're going to pound them!" Chris rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

"You're _so_ primitive," he said, disdainfully, and Drew elbowed his ribs.

"You didn't mind me being so big and strong when I had to lug your paintings around." Chris shrugged.

"That's not a sport," he pointed out, and Drew rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"And then there's the cheerleading!" exclaimed El, holding up her hand for a high-five from Kurt. Kurt obliged, feeling a little bit of excitement spark in that at the possible chance of taking McKinley down a peg – he would be eternally grateful to Coach Sylvester for taking his situation seriously and expelling Karofsky, but she still bullied the New Directions horribly.

"And don't you have your gymnastics too?" asked Flint, glancing between Elise and Thad, for whatever reason. Elise nodded, also glancing at Thad, and Kurt supposed he must be on the gym team.

"Yeah, that's about the same time. I think we're gonna win."

They fell amicably into different conversations; Drew, Elise, Nick, Jeff and David talking about sport, Kurt, Chris, Juri, Blaine, Flint and Bea talking about art and music, Cat, Ros and Fred chatting animatedly about architecture with Morrison and Lottie whispering to each other a little way to the side.

Kurt found out very quickly that Juri and Bea had some conflicting opinions on classical music as they, almost instantly, became embroiled in some argument that Kurt didn't understand about expressionism and tonality which Flint found – for whatever reason – hilarious. Chris and Blaine were ignoring them whilst talking about something about types of string which they both explained to Kurt was a painting that Chris was working on in which everyone that he knew became a different kind of string.

"_Daley_!" A shout sounded through the emptying foyer, Kurt had a feeling that he'd just spent at least _half an hour_ listening to a conversation about _string_, and saw a sight that was a little bit unexpected. Daley Kellerman, his wispy red hair on end and grey eyes laughing, stood in the doorway to the foyer, two satchels slung over his shoulders and a pile of luggage by his feet as _Sebastian_ ran across the foyer to him, Wes hot in his heels. The Juniors around Kurt let out cries of delight and, as Sebastian pulled him into a tight hug, dashed off leaving Morrison, David and the girls – minus Ros – standing by Kurt. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"My face still amuse you?" he asked Elise, and she looked at his expression.

"Not really, it's not as funny the second time."

"Besides," said David, turning to him as he pulled his girlfriend towards him. "I bet you'd half guessed." Kurt nodded at that.

"Yeah, I had. I take it Cameron Gaylin is also coming?"

"Yep," said Morrison, nodding. "but not till after the holidays are over…" his eyes were fixed on Daley as he hugged all the different boys, and Kurt got the impression that he wasn't really paying attention to Kurt. Kurt looked over at him and saw that he had a very good tan for the middle of December, but he still looked tired.

"He's doing better than I thought," muttered Cat under her breath as Ros held onto Daley tightly. "I mean, last time he looked like a friggin' zombie." Kurt glanced over curiously, but Morrison simply nodded.

"Yeah…I was worried after the fight with Cam, but…He's still doing alright." Kurt was surprised to see that Daley was making his way over to them, submerged in all the happy students that were dragging him over all chattering away. Daley came to a stop, ruffling up his already fly away hair and smiling around.

"Hey Cat, Bea, El…Lottie!" he reached forward and pulled the blonde girl into a tight girl. "How are you doing?" he asked when he let her go. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and gave him a look that asked why he was asking her that. Daley rolled his eyes. "We've been through this; you're marrying my "_little brother_", of course I care about you – that and you're a sweet girl." Lottie flushed a little bit before shrugging.

"I'm doing okay," she said. "Better than earlier…"

"That's great," said Daley and, up close, Kurt noticed that his face was thinner than usual and his eyes flickered around him a lot. He hugged all the other girls, though, punching both David and Morrison on the shoulder before stopping before Kurt. "And you must be Kurt," he said, holding out a hand like Morrison had. Kurt took it firmly, feeling he was less shocked as he'd half put it together for himself.

"It's nice to meet you," he said with a smile, and Daley nodded, letting go of his hand with a pleasant smile on his face as well.

"You too, I've heard a lot of nice things about you, especially that you have a wonderful voice." Kurt felt himself flushing at that because there was nothing quite like praise from an award-winning actor.

"Thank you," he said. "I have to admit I'm a little surprised," his gaze flickered to Sebastian because Sebastian had _run_ at Daley to hug him and was obviously his closest friend, and he would _not_ have said those kinds of things about Kurt. Daley looked around and then laughed.

"Yeah, that came from Wes," there were quite a few laughs at that. "but Sebastian did admit that you were very good." Kurt looked over at Sebastian with a raised eyebrow. Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"I may not open my heart and embrace you warmly, Kurt, but I'm not stupid – you are a countertenor, and you have a unique voice. I am not a fool, Kurt." Kurt blinked at him, not entirely sure whether that was a compliment or not.

"Okay…" he said whilst everyone else chuckled in amusement. Daley looked round at Sebastian who had swung his arm around to rest on his shoulder.

"Sebastian's compliments are always backhanded," informed Daley, tugging down on the sleeves of his blazer.

"Unless you're Blaine," added Wes. "Or Daley, some of the time." There was a little less laughter at that, and Kurt couldn't quite put his finger on it, but the whole atmosphere seemed to have shifted since Daley had arrived. No eyes focused on Blaine anymore; Daley was the centre of all their attention. Kurt knew _something_ had happened to him, but… Their reactions were interesting because Blaine had nearly been _killed_ and if all the focus was now on Daley…something terrible must have happened.

"You know I intensely dislike the fact that you are acting like I don't exist." There was a beat in which everyone looked at each other before Nick frowned and said;

"Did you hear a voice just then or was that my craziness talking to me? – sometimes I can't tell." Everyone kept straight faces for the longest time whilst Sebastian glared daggers at Nick, probably picturing the many ways he could kill and torture him inside his head, and Nick stared innocently around the room as he "_searched_" for the illusive "_voice_".

"Nicolas, I may have Trinity in my cross hairs, but don't think for a _second_ that I can't switch that onto you and sink your lacrosse playing." Nick let out a shriek of horror, staring at Sebastian in an aghast manner.

"_Nooooo_!" he screamed, flinging himself onto the floor in the image of piety. The group dissolved into mad hysterics as Nick continued to hero-worship at Sebastian's feet whilst Sebastian rolled his eyes, but soaked up all the attention with a smug smirk. Kurt looked around the group at all the happy, laughing, faces and the way that when his eyes met with everyone's they gave him a little extra smile of his own.

_It's great to come back to know that they don't hold anything else against me. Despite the things that I said to him about his religion he's just forgiven me instantly, and the others…I don't even know whether he __**told**__ anyone else, and the emails, well, it was Blaine's mistake and after what happened to him I can't stay mad at him. Also, __**celebrities**__ go here! I cannot __**believe**__ no one told me! This is insane, but then again; it's Dalton! _

* * *

"Juri," said Kurt as they began to slowly unpack their luggage after _finally_ leaving the foyer an hour later. "did you see your girlfriend this holiday?" Juri, who was inspecting his violin carefully, went bright red.

"Not my girlfriend," he muttered, deliberately looking in the opposite direction whilst Kurt laughed at his expense.

"Come on, Juri," he said, pulling the spare hangers out of his wardrobe. "What's she like?" Juri let out a sigh and put his violin his case, turning around to face Kurt as he flopped down onto his bed.

"Her father use work for mine. Ve grew up togezer…" Kurt frowned, setting one of his jackets down and sitting opposite Juri, having a feeling that this was going somewhere quite important.

"So, she's our age?" he questioned when Juri didn't keep talking. Juri nodded, looking around the room with his wide blue eyes.

"Yes…her dad vas…he died on ze oil rig…it vas accident, but…" he frowned, pursing his lips and shaking his head. "She did not forgive us…Ve used to play togzer… Her cello, me violin. I am trying to earn forgiveness." Kurt bit the inside of his lip, looking into his friend's downcast expression.

"I take it that it didn't go well," he commented, and Juri shook his head.

"She vants nozing to do vith me." Kurt felt his face fall into a frown, understanding now why Juri didn't talk about it. He would go home with excitement and hope that it would be the right time, but his hopes were always dashed.

"Juri, if she wants nothing to do with you then…why bother?" Juri looked over at him with an alarmed expression.

"Vat?" Kurt shrugged.

"When the last time you _properly_ spoke to her?" Juri shrugged, a frown falling onto his face.

"Ven ve vere…eleven," Kurt let out a splutter of laughter at that.

"Juri, you haven't fallen in love with a _person_, you fallen with an _idea_!" Juri frowned at him even more.

"Vat do you mean?" Kurt sighed, splaying his hands on his knees and trying to think a good way to explain it all.

"Let me guess, when you go there you don't go inside the house?" Juri nodded. "And you don't speak to her, or anybody else, but you _see_ her." Juri nodded some more. "And you do what, exactly? Sing to her, play her music, bring flowers?" Juri nodded very vigorously, eyes wide. Kurt sighed. "You fell in love with the girl on the other side of the glass…You fell in love with someone who you can't have and you don't even _know_!"

"Is zat not how you fell for Blaine?" challenged Juri, and Kurt frowned. "You fell in love vith him on outside. I knew vo she vas. You did not know vo he was." Kurt felt himself stunned into silence at that. He couldn't argue with that, but…It was different to fall in love with someone who you had just met and then went onto know, and someone who lived on the other side of a glass window who he could not speak to…or was it?

"I suppose you may have a point there, Juri, but I'm not still pining over Blaine, am I? I went out with someone else, and I'm happy, why don't you ever consider going out with someone else? If you close your mind and say that you _will_ go out with that one person and if they don't want to then all you're going to end up doing is making yourself, and probably that person too, miserable." Juri stared at him, blinking in shock.

"Vell…you make good point too, Kurt, but…I do not- I do not connect vith many girls. I have crushed on her for years…Her music is beautiful…She is beautiful…Others girl are not so…Crawford girls are very annoying." Kurt snorted, smiling at that.

"Yes, I can't disagree with that, but weren't there girls in the chamber choir that you get on with?" Juri took a second to think before nodding.

"Yes, I suppose."

"Look," he added, hastily. "I'm not saying you should go out with someone just for the sake of it, but I think you shouldn't close your mind to the rest of the female population." Juri nodded, and then shot him a small smile.

"You give me good advice," he said with a smile. Then he leapt into the air, arms flapping wildly, and Kurt watched, in alarmed confusion, as Juri dashed to one of his suitcases – thankfully not falling – and rooting through it until he pulled out a piece of paper. "Merry Christmas!" he exclaimed, handing it to Kurt. Kurt, with a frown and a guilty feeling in his stomach because he hadn't gotten Juri anything, took it and saw that it was a piece of manuscript paper with notes written on it in a neat script.

"Juri, did you write this?" Juri nodded, proudly, picking up his violin.

"It is not finished," he admitted. "I ran out of time, but I finish it soon." Kurt stared at the title on the top of the page that read "_Kurt_", slowly putting it together in his mind as Juri tucked his instrument beneath his chin and began to play.

Juri played on the lowest string of the instrument; drawing out long, sorrowful, notes coloured with intense vibrato that tapped straight into Kurt's old memories of fear and loneliness, but everyone so often he would dance higher; fleeting trills on the upper strings singing of hope and relief, and when the note lengths shortened and his bow became a blur as his fingers ran up and down the strings it perfectly illustrated the busy, hectic, beginnings of life at Dalton coupled with the freedom that Kurt now had.

It came to an end abruptly, Juri drawing out the last note before sweeping his bow off the string in a large arc, and Kurt burst into applause, unconcerned with incomplete nature of the piece because it was wonderful, and beautiful, and it was incredibly that Juri had written it himself. Also, Kurt had never heard Juri play the violin properly – sometimes he just sawed away at it when he got annoyed or stressed – but it was equally as amazing as when he played the horn.

"Juri, that's…" Kurt trailed off, trying to find a superlative that was appropriate. "that's absolutely _stunning_ – why is everyone at Dalton crazy talented?" Juri shot him a pleased smile at that, putting his violin away.

"You are crazy talented too," he pointed out as he shoved the case beneath his bed with his foot, and Kurt preened internally at the compliment which meant a little bit more now that he understood how immense Juri's talent and understanding of music was.

"I think that may be understatement," he threw back, smirking, and Juri let out a bright laugh, shaking his head.

"I forget your confidence," he admitted. "You not bashful…" Kurt rolled his eyes to the ceiling because he thought that that was obvious about him.

"No Juri, I'm not, just like you're not coordinated." Juri threw him a small scowl, heavy eyebrows bunching together in an annoyed expression.

"I _am_ coordinated I just don't _see_!" Kurt rolled his eyes, getting to his feet and beginning to unpack his things.

"Very well, just like you're not able to look in your peripheral vision," Juri beamed up at him, carefully opening up his own case.

"Exactly!" Kurt shook his head, smirking from ear to ear in amusement at Juri whilst the smaller boy stumbled around, humming under his breath, trying not to fall over any of the cases or clothing.

* * *

"And you're sure that you're okay?" Blaine looked at Daley's face which was slowly going pink in frustration. Daley reached forward to put both his hands on Sebastian's shoulders, almost shaking him backwards and forwards.

"Sebastian, if you don't go over to your boyfriend _right now_ I will burn your music collection into ashes, understand?" Sebastian rolled his eyes, whacking him round the head playfully, narrowing his eyes but not throwing anything back at him.

"You are aware that I can put your bed in-"

"_Leave me alone_!" yelled Daley, spinning Sebastian around and pushing him towards Blaine, who was bent double giggling at Sebastian – internally…happy that Sebastian's fondness for Daley; albeit shown because of what had happened, had not diminished now that him and Blaine were dating – and was glared at as a result. Sebastian took his hand, though, and the two of them wandered off in a random direction.

"Is he really alright?" he double checked, and Sebastian turned to him with a small smile, nodding.

"Yes, Blaine, he's actually fine…as long as he doesn't find out what Q – _fuckin'_ – T tried to do." Blaine nodded, frowning slightly, wondering how Cameron passed if off. Sebastian took one look at his face and huffed slightly. "Cam said that he'd been under the impression that QT had been serious in their threats to leak Morrison and Lottie's relationship to the tabloids." Blaine shivered at the thought of the press tearing into Lottie.

"So, he didn't lie," he said in relief, and Sebastian nodded firmly. "he just…"

"Bent the truth," muttered Sebastian with a snort, looking amused about something. Blaine frowned up at him.

"What?" Sebastian shook his head, eyes darting around the grounds in a distracted manner. Blaine frowned even more. "_Bastian_!" Sebastian blinked and shook his head.

"He did lie, though, no matter what Morrison and the others might want to think." Blaine felt his brow furrow some more, opening his mouth to speak. "I know that QT have threated to do it numerous times, but they all know that they're not serious – their mother would rip them limb from limb, and Morrison would leak the fact that they lip-sync in all their live concerts…to those too stupid to figure it out that is."

Blaine bit the inside of his lip at that, fully aware that Daley reacted terribly to people – especially the likes of Morrison and Sebastian – lying to him, but what was their other option? Blaine knew that if the news got out it would completely destroy Daley, and Morrison, Cameron and the sane Goodys ruining QT in retaliation would not make up for that. However, it would kill Daley – _kill_ him – and he knew that, because they were bastards, QT probably wouldn't care. They'd spout their rubbish about the public having a right to know and move on; it didn't matter to them.

"Can we talk about something else?" he asked, hesitantly, and Sebastian gave him an appraising long before sighing and nodding.

"Simply because you had a terrible Christmas, despite your dapper smile and atrociously bright scarf; yes, yes we can." Blaine smiled at him, taking the warmth from his hand and the small smile on his face. "How was my Christmas present?" Blaine found himself beaming up at him even more.

"I can't thank you enough!" he exclaimed. "I saw Oz again, and he's looking for experts to say that the conditions he's living in aren't beneficial for his health…and Coop is going to start trying to get Adrian and mum some work." Sebastian nodded, listening with an intent look on his face. "I think he was going to get in touch with David's family."

"What about your dad?" he asked. Blaine shrugged, not really sure what to say about his dad because his reaction to Holt trying to kill him had been, well…_nothing_. He hadn't _had_ a reaction – or not one that anyone had seen at any rate.

"I don't know," he said, finally. Sebastian arched an eyebrow.

"He didn't have a view about you nearly having your throat slit?" Blaine flinched, unexpectedly, at his words, and Sebastian watched his reaction without his expression changing. Shaking off the crawling feeling that he was suddenly experiencing up his spine, he nodded.

"He didn't speak to me after it. He didn't really talk to _anyone_ properly." Sebastian frowned, casting his eyes around the ground as he thought.

"That's…unexpected. Do you have any idea what he was thinking?" Blaine shook his head, biting on the inside of his lip and wishing he could stop wondering what was on his dad's mind – and whether what had happened changed his threat at all. However, the fact that he hadn't said anything was ominous…very ominous indeed. "_Blaine_!" snapped Sebastian, clicking his fingers in front of Blaine's face. Blaine jumped.

"Sorry," he said, dragging his mind back to Sebastian's original question. Sebastian gave him a look that said "I-don't-like-the-fact-that-you're-zoning-out-on-me-it-reminds-me-of-when-you-first-came" to which he shrugged. "You can't say that I don't have reason…Both then and now I've come- come off the back of…" he trailed off, but Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"I think "_near death_" is what you're looking for," he commented, dryly, still staring at Blaine in a shrewd manner that made him squirm slightly.

"Right…" he said, looking away from Sebastian's eyes. "but yeah…No, I don't know what he was thinking about. If Emily knew then she didn't want to tell me." He shrugged. "There's not much I can do, right?"

"Except stay the fuck away from Holt the Psychopath? No, there's nothing you can do…well apart not nearly dying – remember that if you turn me grey by the time I'm twenty I'll kill you myself." Blaine looked at him, a small smile creeping onto his face despite the subject.

"That would be counterproductive!" he said in a sing song voice, and Sebastian threw him a death glare that didn't stop the corners of his mouth turning upwards into a smile.

"And people say I'm a bad influence on you," he said, shaking his head from side to side, smirking openly in a manner that was pleased with himself. Blaine whacked his arm, but knew that Sebastian wasn't about to stop smirking any time soon. "By the way, what did you get me for Christmas?"

"Um…" Blaine went a little pink, not really sure how to tell his boyfriend that he hadn't been shopping after the Holt incident – the idea of going back to the shopping centre had been terrifying. Sebastian stared at him before rolling his eyes.

"You didn't get me anything, did you?" Blaine looked away, cheeks colouring even more. Sebastian burst out laughing, ruffling up Blaine's hair in an annoying manner. "I'll make a conman out of you yet, Blaine." He said, still laughing, and Blaine scowled at him because he did not _want_ to be a conman!

"How can I make it up to you?" he asked, and Sebastian sent him a look, eyes sweeping up and down his body, that sent a weird shiver through his body and was enough for him to randomly start feeling nervous.

"I don't think that I should say it out loud," he said, glancing round, and Blaine, following his gaze saw Wes, Daley and Liam not far away, probably eavesdropping on them, flushed an even deeper shade of red, looking away feeling a strange happy-nervous sensation within him.

"Oh…" he said, watching Wes double up in laughter out of the corner of his eyes. Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"That's one way of saying it, yes." Blaine didn't think he could at Sebastian right now – he was fully aware that Sebastian wanted to have sex with him, but somehow it made him feel really awkward…even though he was intensely pleased because Sebastian wanted him, which meant that Sebastian wasn't too good for Blaine – and it definitely didn't help that Wes was now cackling very loudly.

"Wes!" exclaimed Daley, grabbing the Warbler councillor by the ear and beginning to drag him away.

"You know if it's too awkward for you out here, we could always continue this conversation in my room, in my bed…" Blaine kicked him in the shin, glad that Wes was out of earshot.

"Now you're just winding me up!" he whined, and Sebastian rolled his eyes to the grey sky.

"Duh, I'm winding you up! It's my job!" Blaine turned to him with a fierce glare.

"At the hospital you said your job was to keep me sane," Sebastian shrugged, an unconcerned look on his face.

"What with it being you and all, the job description varies." Blaine opened his mouth, not quite sure what to say to that. Sebastian gave him a triumphant look before turning to face him properly. "If you really want to give me a Christmas present, promise me this;" Blaine stared up into his serious eyes, swallowing and biting the inside of his mouth. "promise me that you will always put yourself first." Blaine's face sunk into a frown.

"Bastian, _what_?" Sebastian rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"Blaine, I _know_ you, and I _know_ that there is something that you're not telling me-" Blaine swallowed, guiltily, but Sebastian just held up a hand to stop him from saying anything. "-and I'm okay with that as long as you _put yourself first_. I know that your dad must have said _something_ about you losing your scholarship, don't sacrifice anything else." Blaine stared at him in confusion.

"Like what?"

"I don't know!" exclaimed Sebastian, holding up his hands in a sign of frustration and desperation. Blaine sighed, feeling tears sting his eyes.

"Okay…I promise you that I will…put myself first." Sebastian let out a relieved sigh, and Blaine opened up his arms, asking his boyfriend for a hug. Sebastian rolled his eyes and shook his head. Before Blaine's expression could become one of confused hurt, Sebastian had grabbed him by the face and was kissing him, and Blaine, on balance, had to admit that it was better than a hug.

* * *

There was a knock on the door, and it swung open wide enough for Keats' head to appear in the gap between the door and the frame. Kurt dropped the item of clothing in his hands, smiling, and dashed across the room to Keats. Keats wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace and kissed him.

"I vill go see Chris," muttered Juri, trying to slide past them and out of the door unseen. Kurt rolled his eyes, standing back and pulling Keats out of the doorframe.

"See you later," he called, and Juri nodded as he scuttled away. Keats' mouth had formed a very tight line, and Kurt knew that he was suppressing his laughter. "You're late," he commented, raising his eyebrows and giving his boyfriend a disapproving look. Keats held up his hands.

"I wasn't even sure if we were going to make it," he explained. "me and Vince were hiding in the loft, but then they dragged us out, and Stuart fainted in the snow and got sick…" he rolled his eyes. "Either way we were locked away for a long while, and we only just got out. Parker is still in New York with his family, but he thinks he might be able to get here this evening." Kurt nodded.

"I see…" he replied for want of anything better to say.

"I brought you your Christmas present," said Keats, suddenly, removing the hand he'd had tucked behind his back, and Kurt's eyes widened as the small, neatly wrapped, package was extended to him.

"I didn't get you anything," he said guiltily, sitting down on his bed. Keats shrugged, seating himself next to Kurt.

"It doesn't matter," he assured him and proffered the parcel to Kurt once more. Kurt took it from him and deftly opened the wrapping paper. Out slid a small book. Kurt picked it up, feeling the leather with surprise. There was a small picture in the centre and he lifted it to his eyes. It looked like it was him dressed in military uniform…_Civil War_ uniform is he wasn't mistaken

"What the…?" he questioned softly and Keats laughed.

"Actually, this was a little bit of a collaboration. Parker sent us all the pictures that he had of you; from the Carol Service, concert, cheerleading and so on. Then Vince did a sketch and Andy put it onto the computer. Stuart sowed the pages in and helped me cover the cardboard with leather." Kurt looked at him in surprise.

"Wow…you made it." Keats nodded.

"When I couldn't buy you anything I thought I might as well write you something," Kurt's eyes went a little wider and looked at the title that was in golden print above the soldier-Kurt and read;

The Solitary Soldier

_By Keaton Powers_

"You wrote me a poem?" he guessed and Keats nodded, looking a little apprehensive. Excited and flattered, Kurt flipped the book open and read the title again and the dedication;

_For my Kurt _

_In the hope that you will never change_

He found himself flushing a little at that and Keats just smiled at him in steady kind of way, clearly pleased, though, with Kurt's reaction to his gift. With fingers that almost trembled with anticipation, Kurt turned the page and began to read the poem out loud;

_The solitary soldier;  
__So brave and strong,  
__Waits on the battlefield._

_The old rifle;  
__So heavy and bloody,  
__Cries for the end._

_The beating heart;  
__So weary and tired,  
__Bleeds in guilty sorrow._

_The frightened mare;  
__So used and abused,  
__Whinnies for doting attention._

"_Jesus_," he muttered. "couldn't you have written something a little more cheerful?" Keats rolled his eyes and then shook his head.

"Keep reading," with a small sigh, Kurt turned the page to continue reading aloud;

_The hills are covered with green grass  
__As the solitary soldier stands.  
__The world moves against him;  
__The armies of the South,  
__Rise up to take him down._

_Yet he stands;  
__So tall and proud,  
__Alone._

_To face fear with a straight face,  
__Unmoved and unshaken,  
__Even as within the resolve crumbles and breaks,  
__Is to stand up against the Gods of old._

_To face down Zeus and his thunderbolts,  
__Poseidon as he wields his trident,  
__Apollo and Artemis  
__With arrows of fire and ice,  
__To trick the Goddess of wisdom herself,  
__To strike down Cerberus  
__And walk away from the gates of the Underworld.  
__It is to step out into the burning sunlight,  
__And see Demeter's work;  
__The world renewed and alive_

_To live;  
__Unafraid and unashamed,  
__Is to be a hero of mythology.  
__It is to be painted in the stars,  
__Like Hercules,  
__Orion,  
__And the Gemini._

_The solitary solider  
__Is a thing that stands,  
__Not with a drop of blood  
__Shared with the Immortals,  
__But as a thing of mortal will._

_It is a triumph;  
__A triumph of humanity!_

_It is to be built tall  
__With the illusion of frailty;  
__Made to seem like paper,  
__Simple to blow away and miss,  
__But in reality to be made of granite;  
__To weather the ages,  
__To change but not to break,  
__To live as long as the earth that grounds it._

_And when the solitary soldier,  
__Gives up on his vigil,  
And returns along paths,  
__That have been changed and reshaped,  
__But are still of the same fundamental nature. _

_He returns home with eyes that have had  
__The innocence peeled away,  
__But are still eyes that look down  
__With love and kindness,  
__And are the same._

_The solitary soldier;  
__So brave and strong,  
__Has won the battle!_

Kurt finished reading, and his mouth hung open. He was surprised to feel the sting of tears prick his eyes. He felt moved and touched and utterly amazed by Keats' ability to write. He had known that Keats had a talent – it was one of the first things that he'd learnt about the boy – but he had not thought that it was like…_that_. It was amazing. The poem was better than some of the poetry that he had looked at in English.

"This is…" he was lost for words. He shook his head and looked up into Keats' eyes. "This is _incredible_! This- are you published?" Keats shook his head, looking bashful and modest.

"No, I'm making a book, but…this is just for you." Kurt looked down at the little book, feeling touched and still a little overwhelmed by Keats' thoughts of him.

"You really think those things about me?" Keats nodded succinctly.

"You're brave and strong, and you have suffered through so much, but you haven't become embittered. You are a kind, loving, person, and I think to stay that way, after people have pushed you around and taken advantage of you, is an incredible feat." Kurt went mildly pink.

"Thank you so much for this," he said, leaning in to kiss Keats' lips gently and then hug him. Kurt would never be able to shake the feeling that he been a coward to run away from McKinley, even though he hadn't been safe, but this made him feel better. "I feel so bad," he admitted when they broke apart. "I haven't got anything to give you." Keats shrugged, eyes dismissive of the fact.

"I really don't care, Kurt, but if you want to give me something…" he trailed off, smiling a little bit. "You could sing me something, if you wanted." Kurt's eyes lit up, unable to believe that he had not thought of that.

"Yes! I will, just give me a minute…" he frowned in thought, trying to carefully select a song that would express more than just a simple declaration of their romantic feelings towards each other.

_When I turn out the lights you're out of sight although I know I'm not alone…_

He smiled up at Keats when those lyrics entered his head. He held up a finger to get him to wait a second as he wandered to Juri's piano and, carefully thinking about the starting note, played the key. Smiling to himself he re-seated himself in front of Keats, keeping the note in his head. He held out his hands and Keats took them both in his. He took a deep breath, and then began;

_Under this national rain cloud_

_I'm getting soaked to the skin_

_Trying to find my umbrella_

_But I don't know where to begin _

Keats frowned in mild confusion as Kurt began to sing, quite softly, to him. Kurt expressed the sadness, hopelessness and confusion that had first drawn him to Keats in the first place. The way he had argued, so suddenly and stupidly, with the only people that he knew and, when he'd been lost and on his own, Keats and his friends had been there.

_And it's simply irrational weather_

_Can't even hear myself think_

_Constantly bailing out water_

_But still like I'm gonna sink _

He saw a small smile break across Keats' face in dawning understanding as he got what Kurt was singing about; the way that, even though he'd come to Dalton and he was safe and people were looking out for him, he had still been floundering as he tried to work out how the school worked, and why his two groups of friends did not get on.

'_Cause I'm under the weather_

_Just like the world_

_So sorry for being so bold _

Keats smiled wider at that, both of them thinking of how Kurt's bravery and courage to be openly gay at a school like McKinley had been unrewarded and unwelcome by their narrow-mindedness.

_When I turn out the light_

_You're out of sight_

_Although I know that I'm not alone_

_Feels like home _

Kurt wasn't sure that Keats fully understood how true that statement was to him because he honestly felt like Keats was the only person that wasn't ever going to jump down his throat about something. The Warblers were hot and cold; ready to snap and ready to forget, but Keats was just steady and calm and Kurt's.

_You say you feel like a natural person_

_You haven't got nothing to hide_

_So why do you feel imperfection_

_Cut like a sword in your side _

He tried to tell Keats that, even though he'd been rejected by Sebastian, that didn't mean that there was anything wrong with him. He was talented, honest and kind. Sebastian was just…Kurt didn't even want to think about it, in all honesty, because it was his loss and Kurt's gain.

'_Cause you're under the weather_

_Just like the world_

_And I need somebody to hold_

_When I turn out the light_

_You're out of sight_

_Although I know that I'm not alone_

_Feels like home _

Keats pulled him off the bed and then against his chest, one hand finding his waist and Kurt, resting his hand on Keats' shoulder, allowed himself to be lead in a slow dance in the relatively clean space between his and Juri's bed that mainly constituted them going around in circles, but not fast enough to make them feel dizzy.

_Yes it feels like home_

_Oh, 'cause I'm under the weather_

_Just like the world_

_And I need somebody to hold_

_When I turn out the light_

_You're out of sight_

_Although I know that I'm not alone_

_Feels like home_

A gentle silence fell upon them as they came to a steady stop. They both smiled at each other and Kurt felt mildly nervous, and certainly a touch giddy, by the intensity that was in his calm eyes.

"What was the song?" asked Keats, eventually, not releasing his hold on Kurt's waist. "I don't recognise it."

"It's called _Under the Weather_," said Kurt. "I heard it ages ago, but the song got saved in my little music store in my brain." Keats laughed.

"Yes, I can imagine you've got quite the iTunes library inside there." Kurt smirked at him.

"Wouldn't you like to you know," he quipped. Keats smirked straight back at him.

"I can think of several methods of persuasion," his voice was very low, much lower than normal, and it was sending shivers through Kurt. However, before he could discover Keats' methods of persuasion, the door banged open.

The two of them leapt apart, for no real reason as they were dating and had every reason and right to be standing at an unusually close proximity, and Kurt spun around to see Blaine standing there, looking shocked and guilty.

"Um…" he said, flushing for whatever reason. "I am just going to go…" he said, slowly, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder. "Juri says hi," and then there was some muttering from down the hall. "Oh, and Chris says that if you emotionally scar Juri he – that is to say Chris – will kill you." Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"_Emotionally scar_? What does he think we're doing?" Blaine leaned back into the corridor, and then Chris came into the room.

"I don't think you're doing anything…_yet_…" he left the sentence open-ended, winking, and Kurt was pleased to see that he looked a lot better than he had when he'd first turned up. "Just a threat," he added, cheerfully, and backed out of the doorway. Blaine looked like he was trying really hard not to burst out laughing – they could all hear Daniel cackling somewhere down the hall – and Kurt was flushed red with mortification at the insinuation. Keats, too, looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"Oh, you're dead too, Keats, as it takes two to sexually tango." Daniel's head had appeared around the door, and he also winked at the couple. Kurt looked around the room for something to chuck at his grinning face and Blaine, who had his arms around his stomach as he tried not to laugh, but could only see the book that Keats gave him. He sighed and glared at them both.

"We'll bare it in mind," he said, dryly, and Blaine backed out of the room, sniggering. Kurt rolled his eyes, shaking his head and turning back to Keats, who had snorted quite loudly at Kurt's words.

_I guess it's preferable to them tearing each other's throats out, but – for __**whatever**__ reason – this isn't exactly ideal for me either…_

Keats smirked at him, and Kurt got the impression that he was reading his mind. Kurt rolled his eyes and shoved him, lightly, and let out a soft laugh. Keats gave him a little nudge back and Kurt rolled his eyes again.

"I'm glad that you're not trying to rip his head off," he said, softly, and Keats gave him a rather tight smile in return.

"I would be expelled if I did," he commented, and Kurt got the impression that he wasn't saying that because he was trying to be sarcastic. Keats caught the tight expression that had formed on his face as a sign of distaste. "I highly doubt you'd stay with me if I lied to you." Kurt sighed, unable to disagree with that.

"No, you're right, but…" he trailed off, shrugging. "I dislike the fact that you _would_ like to rip his head off in the first place." Keats shrugged.

"Bad things happened between us, Kurt, nothing's ever going to change that," Kurt put his hands on his hips, arching an eyebrow at his boyfriend.

"I don't understand why you can't _try_ to change things," Keats shook his head, turning his back slightly on Kurt. Kurt frowned at the sudden change of position; the way the light fell on his face accentuated the shadows under his eyes and made him look older and darker.

"Just leave it, Kurt," he said. "_Leave it_." There was a sharp note to his voice that Kurt had not heard before. It was the not the tone used with him, nor was it similar to the cold way he addressed Blaine. It was harsh and uncompromising and allowed Kurt to truly see the possibility that there was something harder buried within the warm, accepting, boy that cared about Kurt.

"Alright," he said, shaking his head slightly. "I'll leave it." He let out a sigh, considering whether it would be worth his while to consider pushing both groups of friends together again. It would likely result in fights – which were dangerous – but Kurt was not one to give up lightly on things. He would take time to plan and consider his options – _Trinity_ – and then do something about it all. This was something that had to be done gently and carefully, not in the heavy handed manner he had been using then.

Keats turned back to him with a smile. He caught Kurt's hand and pulled him close. Kurt took a deep breath and let Keats put his other arm around his waist. He rested his head on Keats' shoulder and waited for the brown haired boy to speak.

"Thank you…" came the breathed response and Kurt felt a smile curve, effortlessly, onto his lips.

"You're welcome…"

_I don't think I love Keats, not in the full meaning of the word, but I'm somewhere around there…I've never had this before, though, so I'm not sure how it's meant to feel, but I feel safe and, well, __**warm**__ around him…The only problem is I keep asking; would this be different with Blaine…?_

* * *

Blaine flopped down onto his bed and looked over at Thad. The quiet boy was hunched over his desk, scribbling on a piece of paper and didn't seem to have noticed that Blaine had re-entered the room. Blaine let out a huff, but Thad, predictably, did not react. Blaine normally liked the quiet around Thad; it gave him a break from the craziness of Dalton and to collect his thoughts, but right now he wanted a break from his thoughts.

He knew that the others had noticed, probably not the girls – well, he wouldn't put it past _Ros_ – and maybe Kurt, that he what he was saying didn't quite match up with how he felt. He was somewhere in between wanting to talk about it and wanting to shut it out of his mind forever. He sighed and ran a hand down his face as his phone began to blare out the tinny sound of _Love Song_.

"Nick?" he questioned, frowning. "What's up?" he saw Thad straighten up out of the corner of his eye and turn around.

"_It's Flint…he's not doing so good…mind popping round?" _Blaine frowned as he sat up, shaking his head.

"Nah, of course not…we're on our way now." He got to his feet as Thad capped his pen and picked up his blazer jacket, swinging it on.

The two of them made their way out of their room and into the hallway. The sounds of Daniel, Chris and Juri going completely crazy echoed down the hallway and Blaine shuddered to think what kind of madness was ensuing in there – and hoped they didn't corrupt Juri too much. In the common room Braden was singing Christmas carols from his position in a headstand whilst a lot of other people laughed at him.

The air was sharp, and the two of them broke into a run to get to Harriot as quickly as possible. Blaine could feel his fingertips freezing off. His heart was pounding in his chest over worry about Flint because he took every hit so hard, and Blaine was scared that, eventually, if things with his dad didn't get better, he would feel that it was one hit too many. Blaine had been there. He knew it wasn't that hard to fall over the edge.

They barged their way into Hariot, nodding greetings to a couple of boys and being slapped on the back, and moved through the blue décor up the stairs. Blaine was relieved to avoid Michael as he raised his fist and rapped on the door, just as David and Jeff came up the stairs, panting.

"Come in!" hollered Nick, and Blaine swung the door open, stepping into the room that was all tidy for once. Flint was curled into a little ball in the bed, a comforter thrown over him, and Nick was sitting next to his head, looking a little bit helpless. Blaine rolled his eyes at the sight of Nick's kicked puppy face – for God's sake if he just put on a _sympathetic_ tone of voice he might discover that Flint _really wanted_ to talk to him and make him understand – and sat down by Flint's feet.

"Flint, buddy," said David, pulling out the desk chair and wheeling himself over to the bedside. "tell us what's the matter."

"You know," came the muffled reply and David rolled his eyes to the ceiling. Jeff smirked and Thad rubbed his forehead and sunk onto Nick's bed, no doubt despairing at the possibility of _another_ smart mouth. Blaine glared at Nick. Nick shrugged.

"Look, Flint, apart from your uncle disowning you is there anything else that happened?" There was a long silence, and then Flint let out a groan.

"Why won't you guys just leave me alone?" There was a pause in which Blaine rolled his eyes and shook his head, Thad flopped down onto the bed as he threw his hands over his face, and the other three began to smirk.

"Oh, you want us to leave you alone do you?" asked Nick in a high-pitched voice of surprise. "Well, you didn't ask very nicely." Flint groaned and lifted up his pillow, beginning to whack at him. Jeff and David both burst out laughing, and Blaine felt a chuckle bubble up out of him.

"_Blaine_!" exclaimed Flint, kicking at him. "You're meant to be on _my side_!" Blaine held up his left hand as his right massaged the area of his ribs that had been attacked.

"I would be, if you talked to me." Flint let out a huff, chucking the pillow across the room and folding his arms across his chest, pouting.

"You're _soooo_ mature," teased Nick and Flint glared at him with all the ferocity he could muster. Thad peeled his hands from his face, sitting up cautiously.

"Alright!" he exclaimed, rolling away so that he didn't have to look into Nick's smug face. "My dad wouldn't stop going on about how much of a disappointment I am, and how crap my grades are and how I'm a _fucking coward_! And granddad kept shouting about how I was so pathetic and worthless, and that I wasn't fit to scrape the mud off his boots! He kept saying that he wished he could- he could do what they did to Great Aunt Lally and…and…" he broke off, turning over and curling up into a tighter ball than previously, and Blaine felt his heart beat a little bit faster.

"Shit…" muttered Jeff, looking quite pale, eyes losing their twinkle. There was a long pause in which Blaine looked at Thad who had very narrowed eyes and was rubbing his forehead. Nick and David exchanged a long, frightened, look.

"Are you _absolutely sure_ there is _no way_ you could live with your mum?" asked David, eventually. "because, shit, this is getting…this is getting _worse_…"

"Mum doesn't _want_ me," pointed out Flint's sulky voice. Blaine swallowed, resting his hand on Flint's leg, trying to transmit, through the covers, that he was not alone in those feelings.

"Yeah, but she doesn't…you know…" Flint snorted at Jeff's words in a dismissive way. Nick rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"They won't _actually_…they used conditional verbs. If they were actually planning – or _going_ to – they would say that they _will_ do to me what they did to…" There was a pause in which everyone just stared at him in utter disbelief.

"Man your family is insane," muttered Nick, running his hands over his face. "I mean David's family is bat-shit _crazy_, but yours is just…I mean I still can't understand it." Flint rolled over, face scrunched up in a frown as Thad leant forward, suddenly, and screwed his eyes up.

"What don't you understand?" he questioned, looking between Jeff, David and Blaine in puzzlement. Jeff shrugged whilst David and Blaine shared their typical "_when-are-they-going-to-just-__**talk**__-without-us-in-the-room_?" look that they shared every time when this topic came up. Nick huffed out a huge sigh, shrugging in an exaggerated manner.

"I don't know…I just…I can't get my head around the whole coming-to-Dalton-but-being-racist-slash-homophobic-slash-generally-intolerant-but-only-towards-their-family thing." Flint rolled his eyes, but sat up with a very intent look in his eyes. Blaine felt his hand slide onto the blanket, feeling a surge of caution because he didn't like the idea that Flint was fixating on this.

"They have one rule for the family and one rule for everyone else. They expect things from us; join the army, marry, procreate, carry on the tradition…" he broke off, looking sad. "I _can't_ do those things…I _can't_ join them army, and my dad sees that as a…_disgrace_, and me being gay…me being…me being…" he broke off, letting out a shuddering breath, a tear suddenly threatening to spill over his lid. "…and wanting to do that for- for _not coming out_…" he whispered, and Blaine closed his eyes and clenched his fists.

_Don't get pissed_, he told himself, _don't get pissed_._ For __**fuck's sake**__ keep control. Don't get angry. Don't get angry. Keep a lid on it. You don't want to flip out again. Don't want to be like Holt._

He repeated the mantra over and over again as he saw David gather the weepy looking boy up in his arms. Jeff's hands balled into fists, and he then pressed them very tightly against his head, jaw clenched whilst Nick kicked the bed frame and swore. Thad's eyes were still scrunched up, and he was pressing his right hand against his forehead. Blaine frowned at him for a second before turning towards Flint.

"And even then…" continued the trembling boy. "Even then they'd still…they'd still hate it because it's shameful and it's "_not right_" and I- I'm _weak_ and this- this gives them an excuse…so that they don't get the blame. I'm not doing what I'm meant to." Blaine shook his head because _God_ could he empathise, but it was different. Flint's situation was just different; messed up, completely baffling and kind of similar, but _different_.

"Flint, buddy…" David was struggling for words, which always gave Blaine cause for concern, and Nick looked like that he thought he'd made the wrong decision to try and understand how Flint's family could not love him.

"Do you believe that?" asked Blaine, softly, looking over at Flint with worried eyes because Blaine knew all about the pitfalls of believing those things. Flint shrugged, tugging the comforter up around him as he crossed his legs, leaning against the wall.

"I _am_ weak, Blaine!" exclaimed Flint, throwing up his arms in despair. "We both know that. Sometimes I can't get through a _fucking Warbler routine_! I'm the _only person_ at this school that _doesn't_ do a sport because dancing in the Warblers is apparently _enough_!" There were annoyed, angry, looks exchanged before Jeff slapped him around the face, not hard enough to bruise but enough so that a sharp crack sounded. Everyone stared at him in wide eyed shock as Flint reeled backwards, eyes comically wide, and David touched Jeff's arm nervously.

"Jeff…?" questioned Nick, slowly, leaning towards his best friend whose eyes were very hard and who was breathing in a forced manner. Blaine felt his heart thump, loudly, against the inside of his chest.

"Flint," he said through gritted teeth. "don't you _dare _talk about yourself like that! I _refuse_ to let you think that!" Flint nodded, dumbly, at him, still shocked by his reaction. "Having _asthma_," continued Jeff in his falsely calm, but at the same time furious, voice."_isn't_ your fault, nor does it make you _weak_!" Flint closed his eyes and slumped against the wall.

"I _hate_ Keats," he muttered, and no one bothered to disagree with him. A tear fell down Flint's cheek and, very slowly, Nick reached up to wipe it away. Flint's eyes jerked open, and Nick grinned at him, sitting back.

"I don't like seeing you cry," he said simply whilst the other four rolled their eyes to the ceiling as one. "It makes me sad, and, _for crying out loud_, can we all not be happy just _once_?" Jeff rolled his eyes whilst Thad frowned even more, his grip on his forehead tightening.

"We ssshouldn't…not ignore…problemssss." Everyone turned to him, Flint wiping his eyes in surprise, due to the incoherent nature of that statement. David's face dipped into a frown at the sight of him whist Jeff shot Nick a questioning look, and Blaine tried to figure out what was niggling his mind in worry about Thad's position. Flint blinked several times before asking;

"Are you- man, are you having a _migraine_?" Blaine's eyebrows leapt up his forehead as the pieces fitted together in his mind. Thad nodded, firmly, and people sighed in understanding because he did stutter worse when he had a migraine, but he hadn't had one in _ages_.

"He did bang his head," commented Nick, turning to fix a very piercing stare on his god-brother. "but I didn't think it was migraine inducing."

"Sssame place," he muttered through gritted teeth and everyone "_ahhed_" in understanding. Blaine looked between Thad's rapidly paling face and Flint's glazed eyes and let out a sigh. As much as he'd like to stay and make sure that Flint was okay, Thad looked like he was entering "_blackout_" – as Nick liked to call it – stage where his vision went spotty, and Blaine would prefer to have him in their room when that happened.

"Come on," he said, getting to his feet and hoisting Thad's arm around his shoulder. The other boy stumbled slightly, clearly unable to fully see, and then turned back to the others. "You going to be alright, Flint?" Flint gave him a smile and then nodded.

"Yeah…I'll be- I'll be alright." Blaine nodded before directing his fiercest, most Sebastian-esque, glare upon Nick, threatening him with death if he were to say something stupid or insensitive, before turning away and hauling Thad out of the bedroom.

It was awkward to make their way back to their house because Blaine was more concerned with Flint than Thad – Thad had lots of migraines, and he could handle them well, except when he lost his vision and was stupid enough to walk around and bang into stuff – and the ever increasing worry that they weren't going to be able to keep their cool.

If _Flint_ – the _only one_ that got a _real_ apology – still hated him, not that Blaine could blame him for that at all, than there was no way that anyone else was going to forgive him. Blaine knew he wasn't anywhere near there. He'd thought, maybe, that some progress had been made with the concert – with what Sebastian had sung – but that wasn't right. Nothing had changed with Kurt either, except hackles had been raised and there was a great feeling of uncertainty.

Blaine got help with Thad when he made it to the common room with Warwick casting them a knowing look before leaping up to assist him up the stairs and turning on the bedroom light. With a muttered "_it's shit that this still happens_" Warwick left the room as Blaine dropped him down onto his bed and then turned off the light again after Thad let out a little moan and rolled onto his side. He drew the curtains across the window and sat down onto his bed. It was a little disconcerting to sit in the dark, but Blaine let it go because Thad had put up with him day in and day out, and – if Sebastian was to be believed – that was quite a difficult feat. He picked up his iPod and put it on shuffle. A second later _Fighter_ came blaring through his headphones.

_After all you put me through you'd think I'd despise you…_

_But in the end I want to thank you…_

'_Cause you made me that much stronger…_

Blaine pulled his headphones and chucked the device onto the floor, music pumping out of the earphones. He crossed his arms over his chest and took a deep, steadying, breath. He heard Thad turn over and was sure that he was listening to the faint strains of song that could be heard over the silence.

_Well I thought I knew you_

_Thinkin' that you were true_

_Guess I couldn't trust _

_Called your bluff_

_Time is up 'cause I've had enough_

Blaine waited – just _waited_, but also _hoped_ – for Thad to say something. Blaine guessed that he was thinking it over, figuring his way through what he knew about Blaine's thought process, and getting to the answer.

"You're…you're ssscared?" he could hear the hint of questioning in his tone of voice, and Blaine's immediate reaction was to deny it; that small bit of masculine pride rearing its head in the denial of weakness, before he sighed.

"Yeah…" he whispered, and the sound of the music faintly playing was beginning to grate Blaine's nerves so he reached down and switched if off, but then discovered that complete silence was even more oppressive.

"You won't…you- you- you…you won't…not again…" Blaine leaned his head back against the cold wall and sighed.

"Cooper slapped me, Thad, he just _slapped_ me…Dad shouts all the time…what if I can't fight it? What if it's _who I am_? Maybe we're all too weak…I can't- I'm getting more angry, day by day, and what happens next? What if I turn into my dad or _Holt_?" He heard shifting and rustling and squinted through the darkness to Thad who was sitting himself up.

"You- you- you…_fight it_…" his breath hitched in pain and Blaine could see his neck arching back his hands flew up to cover his face. Blaine shook his head, feeling the tears well up and wanting to get it all out.

"Can I tell you something, Thad? A secret?"

"Of- of- _of courssse_!" Blaine let out a huff of impatient air.

"No, I mean, you can't tell _anyone_…not even _Sebastian_." There was a long pause, and Blaine prayed that Thad would say yes because he felt like he was going to burst open, and he didn't want to burden Sebastian anymore.

"Okay…I-I- I _promissse_." Blaine let out a relieved sigh, dropping his head down a little bit, smiling at his knees.

"Thanks. I just- Bastian's got loads on his plate, and I don't want him worrying unduly, but…I don't think I'm going make it to graduation. Heck, I'll be lucky to do a _month_ of Senior year." he could feel his eyes stinging and kept his gaze on his knees, arms wrapped around them, knowing that Thad was frowning.

"What-" Blaine took a deep breath and steeled himself before cutting Thad off before he could fully form the question.

"Dad said that if we don't win Regionals he's going to pull him out of Dalton for my Senior year, and I have to go back to Kinzie, and then Holt _will_ kill me." He heard Thad inhale sharply, and felt the tears begin to fall. "I'm so scared of that. I'm scared of what my family's going to do to me. I'm scared that Holt's going to hurt me. I'm scared that I'm going to lose you all. I'm scared that _I'm_ going to lose it. I'm scared that I'm getting more and more angry and that I'm going to hurt someone. That I'm going to turn into Holt. That no one's going to stop me this time. That I'm going to do serious damage, and…"

He trailed off, choking, and left the rest of the sentence unspoken because he didn't need to say it. Thad had probably known where it was going the moment that he'd opened his mouth. That was the part that Thad would have guessed, the part about Kinzie would be the thing that was keeping him quiet. Blaine put his face in his knees, breathing heavily, and tried to keep calm. He needed to keep his head together.

"You- you- we _can_…_we can do thissss_!" came Thad's hissed exclamation. Blaine could see that he had curled up into himself, was now lying on his side, and that it was taking him a serious amount of effort to speak. "Win. We…we _will_ win!" Blaine gave him a sad smile.

"Thad we _never_ win!"

"Win sssport!" he shot back, and Blaine rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to say that it was different. "_Mentality_; _belief_." Blaine had to extrapolate the meaning from the individual words but it wasn't hard. Thad was saying that they had to believe in themselves and keep the mentality they had in many of their sporting activities, and, well, when had Sebastian had anything less than an arrogant belief in himself? The Warblers were on an upwards curve after gaining Kurt – another person with a lot of self-confidence – and Blaine and Sebastian dueting at Sectionals.

"Maybe…" he said. Thad's eyes blinked at him through the darkness. The whites of his eyes were very bright whilst his irises and pupils were almost indistinguishable from each other.

"You will…you will ssstop yourssself…you will avoid confflict…believe in - _huh_ - I believe in you." Blaine heard the pained hitch, but his overwhelmed emotional state stopped him from being too worried. Thad was not one to throw his words about, nor was he one to give people the vote of confident often – he kept his opinions to himself – so the fact that he _believed in Blaine_…Blaine was touched beyond belief and completely taken aback.

"Thanks…" he whispered and he thought he heard the shifting of the sheets as Thad shrugged.

"You're ssstrong," came the short, resolute, reply that was completely unquestionable. He had a finality to his tone of voice that meant Blaine could not contradict, or even continue the conversation. It showed how firm his belief was in Blaine; Thad spoke in black and white, the words that he forced out – especially when he was in a condition like this – were concrete and without room for doubt.

…"_You __**are not**__ as broken as you may feel or appear."…_

"Get some rest," he threw out, eventually, in response. "Nick'll kill you if you cop out on performing." He heard Thad give a quiet snort, and Blaine plugged himself back into his iPod, changing song, and found himself smiling quite a bit more.

* * *

_I never thought that I would be able to sit and listen to someone talk about a book I haven't read for a whole hour, but that's what Keats has had me doing. He's been describing the story he is currently "__**crafting**__" – he refuses to use the word writing, but I don't know why – and I have to admit it sounds amazing. The only thing I haven't quite figured out – I get it's a deeply moving tale of different people's lives, and all the emotional pitfalls that come with living – is where or when it's set; he's not been that specific. Still, he certainly knows how to sell it because all I want to do now is read it. _

Kurt let out a sigh as Keats got to his feet, tucking his mobile away. He cast an apologetic look down upon Kurt who just shrugged.

"Off you go to Vince," said Kurt rolling his eyes. "What does he even want?" Keats shook his head.

"He's thinks he's left something behind and I need to go and find it because, _apparently_, I packed the bag that it was meant to be in." He rolled his eyes, and Kurt felt himself smirking at that – whenever Keats spoke about his friends he used a rather exasperated tone of voice that almost masked the undercurrents of fondness within.

"Well, I'm sure that you need to make sure that you do find it; what is it?" Keats rolled his eyes again.

"Some kind of pencil set thing…" he shook his head. "I don't even know. He has these…geometry kind of sets that he designs things with, and they're all colour coded and used for specific things – it's _very_ boring." Kurt laughed at the look of utter boredom on Keats' face; like he couldn't think of anything more tedious.

"Well, I'm sure that you can't be delayed anymore by me," he said with a playful smile, and Keats leant down, taking Kurt's face in his hands and kissing him.

"I would love to be, but I have plans that require me to have use of my hands." Kurt laughed as Keats stood up, stretching and made his way to the door. "I'll come pick you up for the party, sound good?" Kurt nodded.

"That sounds brilliant – what time?" Keats shrugged, pulling an unconcerned face.

"Let's make it surprise, shall we? Just be ready." Kurt let out an exclamation of disbelief.

"But how will I know when to start getting ready?" Keats simply winked and slipped out of the door. Kurt rolled his eyes, shaking his head at his boyfriend's – that word still make him feel a touch giddy – antics and picking up the book. Moving over to his bookcase that contained some assorted textbooks he placed it carefully on the middle shelf with a smile.

Then, turning around, he decided that he might as well go and see what Blaine had wanted when he'd burst into their room earlier. He must have wanted to talk about something with Kurt and Kurt hoped that it wasn't too late to talk to him still because he _desperately_ wanted to be a good friend of Blaine's, on a par with David and the others. It was hard what with Keats, and Kurt's "_hidden_" – well, only to Blaine – feelings.

He shook his head as he walked out into the hallway and turned towards Blaine's room; he _had to_ stop thinking about that. The door was open a fraction, and Kurt could see that there was no light on inside though he could hear the soft, yet steady, sound of breathing in the dead quiet of the hallway where the only other sound was the buzz from the common room.

_Huh, it seems Daniel and the others have calmed down a little bit, thank god._

He knocked on the door, and he opened the door a little bit even as footsteps bounded, and a second later Blaine came crashing into him, sending them both sprawling onto the floor of the hallway. Kurt let out an "_oof_" even as he blushed when he looked straight up into the hazel eyes that were centimetres from his.

"Blaine?" came a hoarse whisper that sounded like Thad. Blaine bounced upright and hurried to his room.

"I'm fine. Rest or you'll be murdered by Nick, remember." There was a grumble before Blaine closed the door and then reached down to pull the still blushing Kurt to his feet. Kurt dusted down his front, hoping that Blaine would not comment on the shade of pink in his cheeks. "Can we go to your room?" he asked, and Kurt nodded, a little dumbly, and Blaine beamed and dragged him along the hallway.

"Just make yourself at home," he said, dryly as Blaine flopped down onto Juri's bed. Blaine grinned up at him.

"Sorry, I've been cooped up 'cause Thad's having a migraine." Kurt, sitting down on his bed, cast him a worried look.

"Is he alright?" Blaine nodded a dismissive look on his face that caused Kurt to frown even more. Blaine caught his expression and then smiled. "Oh, don't look so worried he'll be fine soon enough. He had them pretty badly in Sophomore year, but they passed off – except he bumped his head this holiday so they've come back." Kurt nodded in understanding.

"Right, was there something you wanted when you, um…_burst in_." Blaine shook his head with a grin.

"No, I just wanted to…talk to you, I didn't mean to interrupt…_anything_ that may or may not have been happening between you and Keats, and I-"

"Blaine," said Kurt with a grin, cutting through his rambling. "it's okay…I'd just finished singing to him…as a Christmas present." Blaine's face lit up with false enthusiasm.

"Oh, that's nice! What did you sing?" Kurt wasn't sure he liked Blaine's fake attempts to be interested and okay with him and Keats, but he let it go because at least he was _trying_.

"_Under the Weather_ by KT Tunstall." Blaine wrinkled his brow up in thought and then shook his head.

"Nope, don't know it," then the old beam spread back across his face. "Maybe you could sing it to me sometime."

_How the hell am I meant to even __**consider**__ saying no to him whilst he's giving me __**that**__ smile?_

"Sure," he said, instantly. "I'd like to do that." Blaine nodded, still smiling. Kurt felt a little bit of awkwardness rise in between them. "I appreciate it, you know." He said, because he thought that Blaine should know that he _really did_ appreciate Blaine trying to be okay with the whole thing.

"Appreciate what?" asked Blaine, frowning a little bit. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"You know," he said, shrugging. "the way that you're acting like you're okay with Keats and I when you're not." Blaine let out a sigh, nodding and then giving him a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, well…" Blaine broke off, frowning and then shook his head. "I just want things to be okay, Kurt," he said, giving him a very steady, serious, look. "I don't want anyone else getting hurt, and I don't want a repeat of what happened…I'd give _anything_ to change some of the things – _all_ of the things, I suppose – from happening, but we both know we can't change the past no matter how much we want to…" Blaine swallowed, ducking his head, and Kurt watched him with sad eyes Blaine's voice _ached_ with pain and regret, and Kurt wanted him to smile again and to be okay.

"So do I," said Kurt, giving him a small smile as Blaine slowly raised his head to make eye contact with him, and Kurt felt his breath hitch as he looked straight into his hazel eyes and saw all the damage that had been wrought to him. "I don't know what happened," he continued. "but I know that…" he broke off. "I know that you got hurt and you lost a friend." Blaine smiled at him.

"It's not just that, Kurt," he admitted, softly, and Kurt felt himself leaning forward. "I'm not the only one that got hurt…I- I don't know if I should say this, but…people ended up in hospital-" Kurt felt himself gasp in shock, not having imagined that things had escalated _that_ far. "-and Thad's migraines; that's because of this, and Flint's…" he broke off, shaking his head. "and what happened to Flint…and that all comes down on me, in the end."

Kurt frowned at him, not sure what to say. Was Blaine admitting that it _was_ his fault? He'd said he hadn't started it and, given what Kurt could decipher about the whole, messy, love triangle – that may or may not still exist – that was Keats-Sebastian-and-Blaine, he was inclined to believe that. Or, more likely, was it a guilt spawned from cause and effect? Keats had fought with Blaine – over Sebastian? – and things had happened to Thad, Flint and whoever landed in hospital, and Blaine felt guilty for that.

"Blaine," he said, softly. "you're not responsible for the actions of other people." Blaine nodded, pinching the bridge of his nose, and Kurt tilted his head to the side a little, worried that Blaine might be close to tears.

"I know, but…" his brow pinched together in a frown, and he met Kurt's eyes with a heavy look in his own. "You know sometimes the pain would get so bad that he'd scream…" he let out a huff, his mouth opening and shaking his head. "And Flint…" he shook his head again. "Things are _bad_, Kurt, and _I_ can fake it because I'm scared…I'm scared of going back to Chicago because there's someone out there that wants to cut my throat and _will_, and I'm scared that I'm going to get expelled, people who_ need_ Dalton will, or I'm going to let the people I love down."

Kurt stared at Blaine, unblinkingly, searching for something to say. What was he meant to say to Blaine? Everything clearly wasn't alright – nothing changed the fact that he'd been _hospitalised_ because of some…_Neanderthal_, and nothing changed the fact that Hammonds had brought in the zero-tolerance for violence rule _because_ of what had happened, and that the tension between them was ramping up.

"Blaine, you don't have to be scared…There are _lots_ of people out there that support you and want to protect you, and I don't think that Keats wants another fight with you anymore than you do…I mean, I can't imagine his father would be thrilled if he got expelled." Blaine nodded at him.

"Yeah," he said. "I know…it's, like, the reason Hammonds didn't bother expelling either of us the first time round…That, and he had this…_blanket_ policy thing that meant we all had to be punished the same so he'd have expelled _a lot_ of people." Kurt's eyebrow rose sharply.

"Wait, he _properly_ _considered_ expelling you?" Blaine looked like a rabbit in the headlights; he raised a hand to scratch the back of his neck in an awkward manner as he struggled for the right words.

"Well… he _threatened_ it, but then he went along rant about he _couldn't_ because of what happened between Keats and his father, and to me and Garth, so it was never _going_ to happen, but it was a threat." Kurt nodded in shocked understanding.

"Did you _think_ he would, though?" he pressed, curiously, and Blaine nodded, a self-deprecating smile breaking out across his face.

"Oh yes…I actually broke down into tears, and then Hammonds told me to grow up." Kurt raised an eyebrow at that, having thought that Hammonds was more understanding than that. Blaine smiled at his expression. "He got _really_ angry with us at the end and said that he wasn't going to waste his sympathy and understanding on people who didn't listen to him."

"Ah," said Kurt, straightening his face. Blaine shot him a wry, half-embarrassed, smile. An awkward silence hung between them, neither quite sure what to say, and Kurt was painfully aware that this kind of awkwardness did not occur around any of the others – what was different about the two of them?

"Wow…" said Blaine, eventually. "I hadn't realised that we had spent _this_ little amount of time talking to each other." Kurt let out a snort that turned into a proper laugh. Blaine joined in, and Kurt had no idea what they were really laughing over.

"So, this party," he said, when they had finally managed to get a grip over their laughter. "What happens?" Blaine paused for thought, his smile still dominating his face.

"You're going to love it," he said, eventually, nodding to himself. "It's just a lot of fun, really…We all go crazy and there's lots of music and sweets and alcohol – which, of course, those underage do not drink." He shot Kurt a wink, and Kurt smiled knowingly. "And then there's the fireworks display..." he trailed off with a reminiscent grin, and Kurt watched him, a little curiously but with a smile, as Blaine seemed to become lost in good memories of last year. "The Seniors set up the whole thing up," he continued when he'd torn himself away from whatever had captured his attention. "There's no real theme – we all party in our _uniform_." Kurt burst out laughing.

"You celebrate New Year in your _uniform_?" he repeated, incredulously, and Blaine nodded, smiling too.

"Yes, we do, it's just a Dalton thing. We always host it, and Crawford comes over so…"

"Run for your life?" guessed Kurt, and Blaine let out a loud laugh.

"Yes, I hid behind Thad last year when it hit midnight and the fireworks went off so that none of them kissed me," he shuddered at the thought and Kurt could sympathise. "At least this year I have Bastian…" Kurt nodded, glad that he had Keats too. "And then at the end we sing _Auld Lang Syne_." Kurt nodded again. "And it doesn't matter if you don't know the lyrics because _nobody_ does – except, apparently, Cailean did, but you don't know him because he graduated two years ago…" Kurt frowned.

"I think you told me about him, he was…_Scottish_? – which explains why he knew the lyrics." Blaine nodded.

"Exactly, but the whole thing is lots of fun…Nick, Flint and the others have formed this sort of "_band_", and they're playing, at the beginning though because Nick would pass up a chance to get drunk as New Year's the only time we're really _allowed_ to have alcohol on campus." Kurt nodded, not sure how partial he really felt to alcohol after the incident with Miss Pillsbury. He winced at the memory and Blaine cocked his head. "What?" Kurt shook his head, internally mortified, and then gave him a reply because he was giving him pleading, puppy dog, look;

"Last year Mr Schue got an old student that never graduated called April Rhodes to come back because we needed another female lead after Rachel left," he saw Blaine frown and just shook his head. "Believe me, it's a _long_ story and not overly interesting." Blaine was continuing to frown though.

"People just _left_your glee club and then came back?" Kurt nodded, rolling his eyes.

"People did it _all_ the time. There was no real audition process, and we only _just_ had twelve members so we couldn't really afford to be picky." Blaine nodded in understanding, but still looked a little surprised. "Anyway, April was _amazing_ – her singing reduced me to tears – but she gave me alcohol, and I ended up mistaking the guidance counsellor – Miss Pillsbury – for Bambi and throwing up on her." Blaine pulled a pained face.

"Ah…That's um…that's unfortunate." Kurt snorted at him, eyes telling him that he could tell Kurt what he really thought. Blaine shook his head. "That's not as bad as my old school…Kids just did drugs in the corridors. Once I saw my maths teacher _buying_ off some Seniors." Kurt felt his eyebrow arch sharply.

"Seriously?" Blaine nodded his head, eyes clouding over suddenly.

"Yeah…it was a _terrible_ school…" Kurt looked at him and then thought he might as well ask what was on his mind.

"Your friend – Garth – what- what was he like…if you don't mind me asking?" Blaine shook his head and then paused for thought, crossing his legs on Juri's bed.

"The first time I saw you, actually, you reminded me of him – the way you dress…" he broke off, swallowing. "And the- I guess it was _odd_…Everyone just _knew_ he was gay, if you know what I mean?" Kurt nodded his head.

"He was the stereotype of a gay person?" Blaine nodded.

"Basically, except he didn't exactly _follow_ fashion, he just…he just bought it anyway…he was _really_ into classic rock, but I think that might have been a product of Oz – his older brother – brainwashing him." Kurt watched with interest as Blaine's face relaxed, and a reminiscent smile spread across his face. "He drew cartoons that always put a smile on my face, and we made these flipbooks…you must remind me to show them to you, actually, and Garth… He was _so_ optimistic. He was _so sure_ that everything was going to get better. He always saw the silver-lining. He loved listening to me sing – especially when Oz drummed and Caz joined in – and _Harry Potter_, just like me, and…" Blaine broke off, laughing to himself. "We used to play with sticks for wands and with his green army men and _Nerf_ guns and water pistols…" Blaine rested his head against the wall, a smile on his face that was so sad but at the same time so happy. "He was such a big kid…"

"Sounds like you two were perfect for each other…" breathed Kurt and Blaine gave him small smile, possibly flattered by the comment.

"The strange thing is that we barely knew each other…Only just over half a term, but…we became good friends so quickly, and I was crushing on him _so hard_ it was _ridiculous_! You know that feeling of your first_ real_ crush and you're _so sure_ that it's love and you're going to get together…" Kurt nodded, remembering Finn. "We went to Sadie Hawkins together. I asked…I thought I was going to be _sick_ when I did it, but somehow I got it out…and I fainted when he said yes," Kurt let out an incredulous laugh, and Blaine, grinning and flushing slightly, nodded. "I know, I was so embarrassed and Oz couldn't stop laughing…and that night, everything before the attack, it was _perfect_…" Blaine's mouth spread into a wistful smile, and he dipped his head, staring into his lap, with unfocused eyes.

Kurt watched him with fascination because Blaine was so open and yet so very closed off – the way he laughed to himself; the muscles tensing and then relaxing for no apparent reason. He was right there, in front of Kurt, talking to him about something that was so personal and it made them so close, but Blaine was so far away from Kurt at the same time – lost in memories of better days that had happened, and all the things that he wished that he still had.

It was almost everything that Kurt had wanted to happen between them and for the first time Blaine was sharing with Kurt. Blaine wasn't holding back or censoring his words, judging what was best for Kurt or uncomfortable with the subject that they were discussing, but at the same time Kurt was almost regretting bringing it up. He wasn't sure what it was, but there was something about the look on his face; so happy, but also so filled with pain and sorrow, that made Kurt wonder whether he'd misjudged how easy it would be to talk about this.

"Blaine, I-" Kurt's voice, though, seemed to snap him from whatever trance he was in. His eyes focused back onto Kurt's face, and he smiled.

"It's okay…sometimes I struggle to remember the good memories of our time together. I get so bogged down in that moment when he opened his eyes – sea green; the greenest I've ever seen, more so than Luc and Bastian's, the closest I've seen is Feel's because there's so much _life_ in his – and looked into my face and…" Blaine broke off, choking. "and asked me who I was…" His eyes locked with Kurt's, properly, and Kurt could see straight into through him and his stomach lurched as he imagined the horror, sadness and pain that Blaine must have felt when it crashed down upon him that his _best friend_ – his only friend _and_ the object of his affections – did not know who he was.

"I can't- I can't…" he shook his head and Blaine nodded.

"You can't imagine that kind of pain…to know that someone has wiped _you_ from their memory – that, albeit subconsciously, he thinks he's better off never knowing you…" Kurt knew what it was like to lose someone, but it was like when Jeff had explained how he'd lost his father – it was knowing that they hadn't just gone, but they'd _left_; that was the worst part of the pain.

"I'm so sorry…" he whispered and Blaine shrugged.

"It doesn't matter; you helped me remember the Garth the way I want to…" he puffed out a huge breath of air. He cast his hazel eyes around the room before fixing them back on Kurt. "Do you ever get the feeling that the world is…" he trailed off, looking for the right words. "moving on around you, and that you're left standing still…trying to hold to what you know whilst it's slipping away…?" His eyes lost focus for a second, and Kurt tilted his head.

"Are you alright, Blaine?"

"You mean apart from my mum not wanting me, being bullied, my dad hating me, losing my best friend, and then my other friend whilst people around me got hurt, and then…" he trailed off, taking a deep breath and Kurt rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "and then all that happened to you and someone trying to murder me?" Kurt shot him a condescending glare that masked the sadness he felt at the amount of pain Blaine had been subjected to.

"_Alright_! _Apart_ from all that are you okay?" Blaine shot him a crooked smile.

"I guess I don't like change…I'm quite insecure after everything that's happened. I worry about people leaving, and I guess my eyes got opened this holiday by my brother; we all change…" Blaine blinked some more and Kurt frowned further.

"Blaine, why are you telling me this?" he asked, gently. "Not that I don't want you to talk to me," he added, hurriedly. "but why _me_? Why not Sebastian or Thad or any of the others?" Blaine shrugged.

"Sebastian's under a lot of pressure right now – you must have noticed he doesn't look well – and having Daley back has made him really happy, and I don't want to ruin that – not when he's so rarely happy."

"Don't _you_ make him happy?" questioned Kurt with a pointed look. Blaine shrugged, giving him a small smile.

"I suppose I do, but…I guess you could say that Sebastian has levels of happiness…Daley means _a lot_ to him…" Blaine trailed off. "It was quite bad what happened…he got really violent because he was angry and…" he trailed off again, catching the surprised, and worried, look on Kurt's face. "He _never_ hurt anyone – he threw books around, mainly…one of them might have hit Wes or Liam, but they were both okay…"

"Shouldn't he have been expelled?" Blaine shrugged.

"Kurt, people get hurt _all the time_ – sometimes people get hurt accidentally in broom fights – what matters is _intent_." Kurt nodded in understanding because, really, it would be ridiculous to expel someone over something like that. "Anyway, we've gone _way_ off topic. I don't want to talk to Thad right now 'cause he's in too much pain to really _listen_ to what I've got to say – normally, I probably would. I guess that I thought that you'd get what I mean…not that I'm saying you're insecure." Kurt nodded.

"I appreciate that, and I guess you're right. That's how it felt when I first came to Dalton; like you were all going on in the same way and I was left behind." Blaine nodded.

"Yeah, I thought so…" Kurt looked at him, not sure what to say now that their heart-to-heart seemed to have ground to an abrupt halt. "I like talking to you," he said, finally. "You're not _overly_ sarcastic like Sebastian, but you're also not…" he shook his head as Kurt glowed inside from the compliment. "Let's just say talking to Thad is one of _the_ most bizarre things you will ever do…He talks with his expression. Half the time you feel like you're talking to yourself." Kurt smiled a little bit.

"I've never really had a…_conversation_ with Thad." Blaine nodded in understanding. Kurt hesitated and then decided he might as well see if Blaine knew more than David. "Do you know-"

"Why he stutters? No," he heaved a sigh at that as Kurt nodded. "It's a shame, I can say that, 'cause he used to talk to me quite a bit in Freshman year, and he still _can_ he just…I guess his stutter just sort of waxes and wanes; better then worse…" Kurt nodded again. "It's always worse after the holidays though. I think it's his mum."

"Do you know how…I mean, how did she-" Kurt stumbled over his words, trying to find the appropriate way to ask Blaine whether he knew how his roommate's mum had become a prostitute. Blaine snorted at his efforts.

"No, I don't even think Thad knows, but…it's not hard to guess…Either she got pregnant at fourteen and ended up on the streets because the father of the child kicked off when he found out, or was already not around, or she was just, you know, _involved_ in that kind of thing and ended up pregnant…" he shrugged. "Neither one of those is a particularly pleasant thing to think about." Kurt nodded once more in agreement.

"So he doesn't know who his dad is?" Blaine shook his head, pursing his lips.

"Not a clue, as far as I'm aware." Kurt nodded, feeling a little bit sorry for him. "I don't know very much about him. He doesn't talk about his home and…well, I don't blame him. From what Nick has said it's not good." Kurt nodded once more in pitying understanding. He could not really _envisage_ the kind of life that Thad lived when he was out of Dalton because all the pieces seemed so disconnected; Nick with his rich, famous, father and then Thad's mother – a prostitute and obviously involved with some form of gang or criminal…_whatever_ – and him; a stuttering, yet clever and talented boy – he had _two_ scholarships; and Keats had said that he was predominantly a _music_ one. He could act and sing and play the guitar _really_ _well_. He knew all about musicals and popular music, but he didn't sing solos or play except when he seemed to be accompanying other people. He was certainly an enigma.

Blaine stretched, rubbing his eyes in a tired manner, and then grinned at Kurt. Kurt frowned at him, curiously, not sure what had put the smile so firmly onto Blaine's handsome – Kurt _really_ had to stop thinking like that – face.

"What?" he questioned, and Blaine shook his head.

"Just give me one minute," with that he darted to his feet and dashed from the room, letting the door slam behind him. Kurt blinked, a little perplexed by Blaine's sudden departure, but did not have to wait long for him to reappear. "Budge up," he said, plopping down next to Kurt. Kurt shuffled a little bit so that they were sitting side-by-side on the bed, backs against the wall, and their legs and arms just touching. "These," he said, holding up a selection of notebooks. "are-"

"Garth Maddison and Blaine Anderson's Amazing Flipbooks?" he guessed, catching sight of the title of the first one. Blaine shot him a glare.

"You just _had_ to say that, didn't you?" Kurt nodded and rolled his eyes.

"I can read, you know." Blaine huffed, but opened the first one.

"I don't want any more smart mouth commentary from you, _Hummel_," he said, waggling a finger in front of Kurt's face with the same expression that a disapproving parent would give to a misbehaving child. Kurt swatted the finger away.

"You can't to tell me what, _Anderson_," he shot back with a smirk firmly in place. Blaine looked up into his eyes, the mock-furious glare firmly in place, and Kurt got one second to wonder why everybody at Dalton was such a _good_ actor before they had both burst out into hysterics.

_I love spending time with Blaine. The flipbooks that his friend made are both hilarious and brilliant. He's such a good cartoon drawer…shame he doesn't do it anymore. It's a little bit weird to see the violence that apparently Blaine came up with – I've tried not to be disturbed by his sense of humour – but I can sort of understand it at the same time; it's quite a good way of getting rid of your anger by turning into comedy and art. _

* * *

"Hey guys!" Jeff burst in, causing them both to jump. "If you're done doing whatever two gay guys who aren't dating or bitching about their families do, we're doing presents in your common room." Kurt felt his eyes bug wide open.

"_Presents_?" he yelped because he didn't have _anything _for _any_ of them. Jeff waved it away.

"Given what happened when you went shopping, and because I'm pretty sure we never told you we share presents, you're forgiven – you too Blaine." He could see Blaine rolling his eyes as he sighed in relief. He still felt a little bit guilty for not having at least _thought_ about getting presents for anyone apart from Keats.

"Come on," said Blaine, pulling him off the bed. Jeff caught sight of their hands and smirked at Kurt. Kurt glared back at him, daring him to make a smart mouth comment and potentially ruining his friendship with Blaine. Jeff simply smirked at him some more before taking Kurt's other hand and towing him down the hall.

"God, and then they were talking about how – when they turned eighteen – they were going to release an "_adult_" version of _QT Pie_." There was a peal of laughter from the boys on the sofas as Daley talked. Blaine dropped down next to Sebastian whilst Kurt found some space on the floor next to Juri, and Jeff lay across the back of a sofa.

"How exactly are they going to make it "_adult_"?" questioned Wes, in a tone of voice that said he didn't really want to know, but at the same time did because he was highly amused. Morrison rolled his eyes.

"I have no idea…we thought it would be better not to ask."

"You should have _seen_ Harper's reaction," cut in Daley, shaking his head. "he spat out coffee that went flying across the room and straight into Taylor's face and onto Quinn's _guitar_!" They all burst out laughing again, leaving Kurt feeling a little bit awkward because he didn't exactly _know_ QT – he knew _of_ them, obviously – and he wasn't entirely sure whether they were all friends or not.

"I hate that song," grumbled Wes. "I'd rather listen to Blaine warbling out every Katy Perry song in existence than listen to it!" Whilst everyone laughed, and Blaine glared at Wes and pouted, a sly smirk appeared on Sebastian's face. Daley, upon catching sight of it, groaned and drew everyone's gaze to him. "Bastian…" warned Wes as they all clocked onto what he was going to do. Sebastian shot him a final smirk before bursting into song;

"_Are- are- are- are you a QT pie?_" he sung in a mock-baby voice that, Kurt had to admit, did sound _a lot_ like QT did on their debut single. "_Do- do- do you __**wanna**__ be a QT pie? Let- let- let- let us show you how_!" They others had dissolved into laughter, and Kurt was a hundred per cent sure that they all hated QT. "_To- to- to be a QT pie you must love your momma and your papa and your biggest ever brother_!" Blaine slapped a hand over Sebastian's hand to stop him from singing. The others were laughing hysterically.

"You really dislike them, don't you?" he asked, looking between them all. They all burst out laughing even harder at that, Sebastian's eyes going to the ceiling as he shook his head in an amused manner.

"That's an _understatement_!" exclaimed Nick, doubling up in laughter. Morrison and Daley nodded as one.

"Trust us, Kurt, you've never _lived_ with them! Me and Daley _grew up_ with them, and they are _insufferable_!" They shook their heads as one.

"Yeah, it's like the only thing us and your boyfriend agree on nowadays!" exclaimed Nick, and Kurt did a double take – not because they agreed on something – but because that implied QT came here too.

"Wait, wait, wait!" he said, holding up his hand. "QT come here _too_!" There were nods from around him, all faces pulled into a look of disgust, and he could not _believe_ that because, despite the fact that Daley and Morrison were undoubtedly more talented, QT were _far_ more famous.

"_Please_ tell me that you don't like there music?" demanded David, looking horrified. "After your obvious love and ability to sing Broadway songs, I would have thought you had better taste than that." Kurt shrugged.

"I don't like them _anymore_, but when I was eight and they got their big single – and I didn't realise that they were the children of Peyton and Alex Goody – I loved them because I thought that meant my dreams could come true too." He admitted that with a faint blush because it sounded so stupid now, and, of course, all the boys burst out laughing.

"You _poor sucker_!" exclaimed Fred through peals of laughter.

"I can't believe you _fell for it_!" roared Morrison, and Kurt scowled at all of them.

"Honestly! I was _eight_! I became disillusioned by the time I was ten!" he folded his arms as he glared around at them all.

"Prepare to be even _more_ disillusioned," said Chris. "They're grade A bastards."

"And that's quite the insult coming from Chris! He's normally the mild one." Chris glared at Drew, but shrugged anyway.

"It's true…they were horrible to me when I drew them; they said that I was a terrible drawer and that they could do better and drew a fucking _stick figure _of me and made fun of all my family and added the title "_The Franklin Drawing Bastard with his Spastic Family_" to it because they hadn't bothered to learn my name and were so _fucking _polite!" Kurt had to admit that that was pretty mean of them_ – _especially the remark about his family. He pulled a face into a wince, and then looked around the group.

"Is there _anyone else_ famous that goes to Dalton that I might possibly want to know about?" The boys looked between each other before Morrison shrugged.

"Well, all of us from the Goody compound come to Dalton or Crawford so Lily – Lily Oldfield – is at Crawford, and Chloe and Clara are coming next year…so there's basically always one of us here."

"Except there'll be a break after CC come, but that doesn't matter because you won't be here." Kurt nodded, and then frowned.

"How come you all come here?" he asked. "I mean, why Dalton of all the boarding schools?"

"Oh that would be my parents," said David, sticking his hand in the air. "Alex – cause only her and Harper have sense – asked dad whether he knew of a good boarding school where she could send the kids that they were training that was out of the way, and 'cause dad went here suggested it 'cause there was also Crawford." Kurt blinked in surprise.

"I didn't know your dad went here," he said in surprise, and David nodded.

"Oh yeah, loads of us have legacies; I mean only you, Blaine, Chris and Thad don't." Kurt's head snapped around to Juri.

"_Your_ dad went here too?" Juri nodded, opening his arms wide and shrugged.

"Vy do you think I am here?" Kurt nodded in understanding, a little bit surprised that they all had families that went here, but Chris and Thad were understandable because they were on full rides. There was a pause before Nick whined;

"Can we do presents now?" and all the others laughed, and Sebastian nodded, gesturing with his hand to tell them to get on with it.

"So, with the exception of Kurt, Blaine and Scrooge-" Kurt was guessing that was Sebastian. "-did everyone remember; _Juri_." Everyone turned to stare at the Russian who glared at them all.

"I left on the plane!"

"It's a _private plane_, Juri, it's not like you couldn't go back." Juri glowered at Nick as all the others laughed, and Kurt shook his head because how the hell did he turn out to be friends with a group of people that were scarily rich?

Still, because it was obviously highly normal for them to travel via private jet, the rest simply laughed – Chris, Fred and Drew all sharing eye rolls – and began to pull packages and parcels from where they had previously been hidden. Nick and Jeff took pleasure in throwing them at people; twenty points for a head shot, ten for the chest, five for any other body part, unless there was the potential to damage something.

Kurt quickly worked out, from opening his presents, that everyone seemed to give two gifts; one gag gift and one actual present. Most of the ones that he'd been given as a joke were things like gift certificates for McDonalds, Taio Cruz albums and the _Bible_, which he stared at for several seconds before looking at Jeff's grinning face and gently put aside.

On the other hand, though, the genuine presents he'd gotten were nothing short of _perfect_, and he could not believe the amount of money his friends apparently had when he looked at the gifts that they had given each other. Kurt found himself surrounded by designer clothes, skin products that had to be worth hundreds of pounds, scarves and bags. There were even a couple of shoes in there, and Kurt wondered how they had managed to work out his size because – casting a critical eye over every gift – told him that they would fit.

If Sebastian hadn't been sitting there making sarcastic comments about most of the things that Kurt had received being made for women with his small pile of Christmas presents – Wes, Daley and Liam had given him presents whilst the others had either given him joke gifts or small things – Kurt would have been half convinced that he'd somehow died and gone up to Heaven, even though it didn't exist, because he could not believe that David's idea of a small gift – "_This is just something small because I'm not good with fashion, but Katelyn found this, like, __**somewhere**__ and thought it would be good on you_" – was jeans, a t-shirt and a jumper from Ralph Lauren that Kurt knew, for fact, cost around $400!

The only presents he got that weren't like that were from Chris, Drew and Fred – Thad and Nick seemed to have given him a joint present – as they'd all made him something…if that's what you could call Fred's gift. Kurt was pleasantly surprised to see that Drew appeared to have carved a bit of wood into the shape of a musical note with a flat base so it stood up whilst Fred had given him a netbook that appeared to have been mutilated – he assured him that his grandparents were rolling in money and technology and that it was safe to use – and Chris had made what looked like a picture book of Kurt's first term at Dalton; meeting all his various friends, his explosion backstage at Blaine, his auditions, cheerleading, the concert, him and Keats going out – he went bright when he saw that Chris had drawn a surprisingly accurate picture of the two of them kissing under the mistletoe – and _Once in Royal_ and a small thing at the end that showed Kurt leaving with the note '_Be warned; there are many more adventures to come!_' which he'd laughed loudly at before giving the boy a hug.

He had even received a present from Morrison and Daley, which was surprising since he had never met them until now and was also a little bit surprised that it also had Cameron Gaylin's signature on it. Opening it up, he found that they had a bundle of signed photos from the different TV shows that they worked on – Kurt had awkwardly admitted to Daley that he didn't watch _Turn Left for Hell_ as the humour didn't exactly appeal to him – as well some more clothes that Daley explained he'd had lying around after his not-so-successful foray into modelling with Marc Jacobs about a year ago and had been waiting to give it to someone they would fit and who wouldn't look stupid in them.

Kurt had been somewhere between stunned and delighted at the gift – it was incredible that they'd given him clothes that were seriously expensive, however out of date, without knowing him – and had hugged them both; Morrison had laughed and hugged him back whilst Daley seemed rather taken aback by the gesture before telling Kurt how he'd been fired by them in just under 48 hours. Kurt had laughed even harder when Morrison had pulled up the pictures because, not only did Daley's hair clash with most of what he was wearing, he looked like he was mocking the whole thing as he attempted to pose. Kurt supposed it had _a lot_ to do with the fact that Daley was primarily a comic actor, well known for his cynicism and sarcastic sense of humour – Kurt could sort of see how him and Sebastian got on well – and as a result it looked like he was taking the mickey out of the clothes. However, looking at him now, Kurt found that Daley didn't seem like that all and wondered whether or not the whole thing had been a front.

The boys dispersed after that, attempting to move their hordes of presents to their rooms, but not before Trinity had sprinkled glitter all over them and a broom fight had broken out. Kurt found that his wardrobe was surprisingly full, and he wondered how on earth he would take it all home with him at the end of term. Juri struggled up the stairs with all the books, CDs and chocolate – Kurt wasn't sure that Juri being hyper was a good idea – that he'd been given along with a motion sensor thing that Fred had made that beeped constantly because Juri was _way_ too near a lot of objects, like the wall, his bed and _Kurt_.

When Kurt left his room for the final time he saw Chris and Drew struggling to carry up the giant canvases that people had given Chris that were taller them him being around Kurt's height. Kurt offered them a hand, but Chris had shaken his head and explained that these were the last two as Drew wedged the door open with his foot and dragged the canvas through, cursing.

He turned around at the sound of laughing and saw Blaine standing there, arms full of bowties – Kurt wasn't sure whether or not that was a joke or something he actually wanted – and clearly amused by the sight of Chris dragging something along by hand. He looked at Kurt, and his grin got a little bit wider. Kurt smiled back at him and wandered over to his side.

"If you want a Christmas present," said Blaine in a low tone of voice when Kurt had reached his side, and Kurt frowned at what he was saying. "I promise you that I will stand by you no matter what." Kurt felt his frown deeper, and Blaine shifted the bowties in his arms so that he could put a hand on Kurt's shoulder. Kurt couldn't stop frowning at him.

"I have to admit, Blaine, that sounds more ominous than reassuring," Blaine laughed at that, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

"Yeah, maybe it did, but I know you've had your doubts about us, and, whilst it's debateable whether or not this is a good thing, I just wanted you to know, _one hundred per cent_, that you are one of us; and I can't think of any other way to show you, and if you want to give me anything, you can believe me." Kurt stared into his eyes, a little taken aback by the seriousness in his voice, before nodding with a smile on his face because he could see Blaine's sincerity and earnestness, but there was also a hint of desperation – like he was afraid that Kurt might slip away from them. Kurt didn't know whether that was simply because of Keats or whether Blaine just really cared about him, but it was enough to make him feel warm and fuzzy inside.

"I believe you, Blaine, I really do." Blaine's face broke out into a wide grin again, letting out a huff of laughter before he pulled Kurt into a one armed hug. Kurt held him back tightly and strictly reminded his racing heart and overexcited brain that Blaine meant all of those things in a _platonic_ way and that he was with Keats.

"That's great! I'll see you downstairs when I've got rid of all of these!" he rolled his eyes at the bowties, and Kurt laughed before making his way down the stairs and back into the common room where he was immediately cornered by Sebastian.

"Kurt, are you drinking or not drinking?" he asked in a brisk voice. Kurt blinked, a little taken aback by the question.

"Um…" he said, thinking about his previous experiences with alcohol and deciding that he would almost certainly have better memories of everything if he wasn't drunk. "Not drinking, I think, why?" Sebastian nodded, jotting it down on a piece of paper on a clipboard.

"No reason other than the fact that, apparently, it's against health and safety to let drunk people near fireworks," Kurt found himself snorting slightly at the comment. Sebastian shot him a brief look, as if wondering whether Kurt had actually just found something he said amusing, before shaking his head and moving off. Kurt let the weirdness of finding Sebastian funny linger with him for a minute more, and then moved over to where Thad sat.

"Do you feel better?" he asked, quietly, and the dark haired Warbler jumped, jerking at the sudden noise and then looked up at Kurt, blinking. Kurt was mildly perplexed by Thad's reaction to the question, but then supposed that he hadn't heard Kurt coming up to him. Thad gave him a smile and then a shrug.

"Yessss, thank you." Kurt sought for something to say to him – he wasn't sure "_how was your Christmas_" was a good conversation starter – when Nick bounded over.

"Thad, are you not drinking again?" Thad gave his god-brother a long, highly intense, glare. Kurt wasn't sure why, but it looked like Thad was trying to make Nick spontaneously combust through the power of his mind. Nick rolled his eyes. "Right, right, yeah…" he rolled his eyes again. "Either way, can you make sure that I don't do what I did last year." Thad raised an eyebrow at him, obviously trying to convey something to him.

"What did you do last year?" asked Kurt, curiously, and Nick went scarlet. Thad chuckled in amusement.

"He made out with a ssstatue – Flint caught it on film," he couldn't keep the grin of his face, and, as Nick scowled at him, Kurt began to laugh, uproariously, at Nick's expense. Nick glowered at him, but turned his attention back to Thad as he asked; "What about Blaine?" Nick sighed and shrugged.

"I wouldn't have thought that you'd have to look after him…but I suppose that Sebastian is running the whole show…and we all know what drunk-Blaine is like." Kurt looked between them in interest.

"What is drunk-Blaine like?" he asked, curiously and rather amused. Nick and Thad took a look at him, seemingly remembering that he had never seen Blaine drunk before. Nick burst out laughing, and Thad began to chuckle.

"Just _wait_!" exclaimed Nick, cackling quite loudly. "He's _hilarious_! He goes all tipsy and flirty at first, then he babbles about random stuff, and then he goes absolutely crazy, whilst also having a compulsive need to sing somewhere in there. Last year, Blaine got totally smashed, and he asked Sebastian out!" Kurt stared at him in disbelief, a grin of shocked amusement spreading across his face.

"He did _what_?" he exclaimed, looking over at Thad for confirmation. Thad nodded, smiling widely at the memory.

"He doesn't remember, but he went over and- and ssstarted ssluring about how hot Ssssebastian wasss, and how much Blaine wanted him….It wasss _very funny_!" Kurt burst out laughing, imagining the humiliation that Blaine must have suffered as a result of that.

"The best part is that Sebastian doesn't remember it either!" exclaimed Jeff, appearing from nowhere but had obviously overheard the last part of their conversation. Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"He doesn't remember?" Jeff shook his head, smirking.

"No, only Flint and Thad do because they're the only ones that were sober, and some other people in Sebastian's year, but it was just before the fireworks went off so everyone that doesn't stay sober is completely drunk." Thad shook his head, putting a hand over his face.

"Sebastian almost jumped him," said Thad in a reminiscent voice. "I had to prise Blaine away, and then we hid so that none of the Crawford girls tried to kiss him when it struck midnight." Kurt smiled at the rest of the story, looking forward to seeing Blaine's drunken antics.

"But there's more," said Nick with an evil grin. "This is when he was in tipsy-flirty mode," Kurt snorted at that. "and he started flirting with _Michelle_." Kurt stared at them all, dumb-struck whilst they all nodded and grinned. Kurt let out a loud laugh, suddenly understanding a little better why Michelle pursued him more than the rest.

"Again," said Jeff. "Blaine doesn't _remember_ this – he remembers flirting with someone, but he can't remember it being Michelle so…" he shrugged as Kurt continued to snort in amusement.

"We decided it would probably be better if he _didn't_ know," said Nick, looking around as Blaine came into the common and flopped onto a sofa near David. "So he thinks he flirted with Herman." Kurt pulled a blank expression, having heard the name before but having no idea who that was.

"Oh!" exclaimed Jeff, looking highly amused at Kurt's expression. "You don't know Herman?" Kurt shook his head and the three boys laughed.

"Herman is _hilarious_!" exclaimed Nick, giggling to himself. "He is the _biggest_ prude that will ever walk this earth. He gets squeamish if just _mention_ kissing someone, and he tends to throw up at the mention of sex." Kurt raised an eyebrow, shocked but not entirely disbelieving.

"So, you let Blaine believe that he came onto him?" he asked, wondering whether Blaine might have preferred knowing it was Michelle. Nick and Jeff shared evil grins as they nodded.

"Yep!" said Jeff. "He followed Herman around for a _week_ trying to apologise, eventually Herman got really freaked out and went to Dr Booth." Kurt's face became one of alarm, but Nick waved it away.

"Don't worry, Dr Booth was sort of amused…_sort of_, but he just told Blaine to stop apologising so it was fine." Kurt nodded, slowly, amused but also a little wary of Nick and Jeff's schemes; seemed like it _was_ a good idea to stay sober.

"I think I made the right choice to not drink anything," he muttered under his breath. Three eyes fixed onto him with amused looks in them.

"You're probably right," said Jeff, grinning at him. "What's the rule to surviving the party sober, Thad?" Thad sent Jeff a half glare before looking at Kurt.

"Avoid Crawford," he muttered, shuddering. Kurt imagined all of the Larks getting drunk – the idea was rather horrific.

"I think I'll do that as well,"

"Are you telling Kurt how to survive the party?" asked Morrison as he wandered over. Kurt looked at him with mild interest, still getting use to his casual presence, and Nick and Jeff smiled innocently up at him. Morrison put his hand on Kurt's shoulder, and Kurt felt his heart beat pick up a little bit because Morrison was so rich and famous and he was standing there acting like he was Kurt's friend – _equal_. "It's hard being around all the nutty Crawford girls when you're sober. My advice is grab Keats and find yourself a nice corner." Kurt frowned at him, not entirely sure what to make of that piece of advice, but also a little bit amused by Nick and Jeff's scandalised reactions.

"How can endorse such fraternisation?" demanded Nick, and Kurt sent a fierce glare his way to which he yelped, grabbed Jeff and Thad, and fled. Morrison burst out laughing, taking his hand off Kurt's shoulder as he put his hand over his face and laughed. Kurt could feel a small smile tugging at his lips, but he hid it from the others.

Standing next to Morrison, Kurt felt a burning question creeping up inside him; just _how_ did Morrison and Lottie end up engaged so quickly? He'd seen enough to know that Lottie was a much nicer, more polite, person compared to Charles, but he couldn't quite see her mixing in the same circles as Morrison – her reaction to Daley asking her how she was doing was proof of that – so why get engaged so quickly if they'd only each other for two years? What was the rush?

Kurt turned to Morrison, swinging his body round so that he was angled towards the other boy to prevent any unnecessary strain being put on his neck. The boy caught his stare in an instant and turned to face him, polite smile in place, eyes inviting him to speak. Kurt took a second to compose himself, taking a breath in before asking;

"Can I ask you a personal question?" Morrison quirked his eyebrows at Kurt, looking a little nonplussed. Then he gave him a charming smile.

"Because you asked so nicely and I don't know you; yes, yes you may." Kurt frowned at him, more than a little thrown by what had just been said.

"Wait. You're answering my personal question _because_ I don't know you." Morrison nodded.

"If you were my friend I'd be running for the hills because – unless you were Blaine or Juri – you want to find something to tease me about." Kurt couldn't argue with that, but how did Morrison know that Kurt wasn't going to just sell it to the tabloids? "If you did that you'd be expelled," said Morrison, calmly, guessing what was on his mind. Kurt raised an eyebrow in surprise, and Morrison simply smiled, in that same nice manner, back.

"How come?"

"Dalton strict rules to do with the press since actors and such started coming…You're not allowed to breach my privacy, and journalist aren't allowed on campus – pisses QT off because it meant they couldn't make this documentary about their lives, but it's pretty much my idea of _Heaven_." Kurt looked at him, understanding that the paparazzi could be hounding and, frankly, inappropriate, but surely you'd want them around _some_ of the time. Morrison smiled again. "I don't _mind_ them. I don't _mind_ having my picture taken, but…I like being at Dalton where I'm just like everyone else and I get to let my hair down without worrying about it ending up on the front page of next week's gossip magazine. As far as I'm concerned if you don't get to go a _little_ bit crazy then you haven't lived."

Kurt began to laugh at that, wondering whether that was something that Trinity had brainwashed into him, because Morrison – in all the interviews that Kurt had seen and read – had always come across as someone quite stiff and uptight, but he didn't seem like that at all now that Kurt was actually speaking to him face to face.

"I know that look too," said Morrison in a sing-song voice, breaking out into an amused grin. "I have to be quite uptight in those things. The Goodys are _really_ strict on press and your image and what you say. Plus, I've had a lot of _good_ influences on me that have taught me to always make sure there is a barrier between your personal life and what you tell people; not so much that you're an unemotional robot, but so that you have a life to yourself…" Kurt nodded. "Anyway, I thought you had a _question_ for me." Kurt laughed alongside him.

"You're right I did…I was wondering how you and Lottie ended up engaged. I mean, I can understand that you're dating, but surely you didn't know her before Dalton. Isn't it a bit quick?" Morrison nodded in slow understanding.

"I was wondering what when you'd ask that – it's what everyone said when it happened, but…" he trailed off, trying to find the right words, and Kurt watched him with a steady, interested, gaze. "It was one of those love at first sight things, you know, really cheesy, I just _saw_ her and I just…" he trailed off, shaking his head and blushing slightly. "I bothered her for _days_ until she agreed to go out on a date with me because she was quiet and shy and no one had ever really paid her attention, but we had a great time together and she wasn't dating me because I was famous – actually that was why she hadn't wanted to go out with me," Kurt tilted his head, listening more intently now. "She didn't really know who I was because she didn't watch American TV, but she'd seen _Climbing Frame_ and, well, when I first asked her out she thought that it might be a joke or that she wasn't good enough…I'm still working on changing her mind on that thing." Kurt nodded, vaguely, thinking.

"She's completely different to Charles," he muttered to himself, and Morrison, who had been staring at the opposite wall in a distant manner, jerked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, they're _really_ different. Charlie got all his love _from_ Lottie, but no one loved her…She was brought up thinking that she was just a tool of the company; she was meant to do well in school, go to university – but do something businessny not what she wants – and then marry someone – the sooner and more prestigious the better – and then go into some role in the company, but not as important as her brother's because her brother was going to become CEO and run the show because he was a _boy_. Charles was told that – if he did everything right – he would be rich and important and Lottie loved him so he kind of got the best of both worlds – or as good as whatever you _could_ get from their parents." Kurt nodded in sad understanding.

"I see…why aren't you still just dating, you know, going steady or whatever – why not wait until college?" Morrison shrugged.

"It was simple, really; I thought I was going to lose her." Kurt raised his eyebrow, once more intrigued. Morrison caught the look and gave him a sly, knowing but not obnoxious, smile. "Her parents were pretty scathing of me; she brought me over in the summer of Freshman year and, um, they were pretty horrible to me about being an actor. They thought I was going to marry her and then screw some other movie star and then it would result in some divorce, and-"

"Divorces aren't allowed," muttered Kurt, darkly, nodding. "Yeah, I heard that." Morrison blinked at him before nodding in understanding.

"Yes, of course you did…I was scared that I might lose her because we didn't have much contact whilst I was filming and so when I came back I put some serious thought into it and on Valentine's Day I popped the question. It took a lot promising and convincing, but she said yes eventually." He sighed. "Answer your question?" Kurt nodded.

"Yes, thank you." Morrison shrugging, shooting Kurt a smile that Kurt had been sure was just saved for the cameras, but appeared to actually be natural.

"My pleasure, I really have heard _a lot_ about you, and, for what it's worth, I'm really glad that you're going out with Keats." Kurt raised his eyebrow sharply because Morrison seemed very firmly on _Blaine's_ side of things. Morrison held up his hands.

"In Freshmen year I wasn't around much so I hadn't really…the only person that was really _close to_ was David because I already knew him and Fred because he orientated me, but hanging around with Fred – in those days – also meant hanging round with Andy so I was both their friends. I saw what happened to them from different perspective than their closer friends; like a sane version of what Trinity saw-" Kurt chuckled at that. "-and, if everything goes well for you two and I hope it does, I think it would really help Keats."

"Do you think they could, potentially, make up?" he asked, quietly, because Morrison seemed like a good person to get this information from. Morrison sighed heavily.

"Honestly, Kurt?" he asked, and Kurt nodded. "No," he said, sighing again and looking sad. "I don't think they can." Kurt frowned at him.

"Why not?" Morrison shook his head, rubbing a hand across his forehead and messing up his fringe.

"They burned _so many_ bridges, Kurt. The lines that they crossed…Keats more so than Blaine, I'm afraid…I don't think there's any way that Blaine will _ever_ be able to trust Keats again, and Keats…" Morrison broke off and sighed once more. "I think Keats will stay within the boundaries that he knows are safe, but he won't go any further…" Kurt looked at him, not impressed by his cryptic response, but also sure that there was something buried in there that he was meant to pick up on.

Morrison caught the frown on his face and, seeing that he was in deep thought, moved away. Kurt watched him go with a relatively shrewd expression, wondering what Morrison had been implying. Something about the way he'd paused before talking about Keats; the way he'd delicately phrased his words, piqued something inside of Kurt. He frowned some more, trying to put together the little he knew about the situation.

…"_I think Keats will staying within the boundaries he knows are safe…"_…

_Safe…_

Kurt shook his head as the word turned over in his mind. There was something about that – it was the way Morrison had said it; not that Keats would stay _in_ the boundaries, but would stay in the boundaries that he knew were _safe_… Almost like…well…almost like Keats had something to _fear_…

Kurt considered the idea carefully; Keats did seem like someone who, like Kurt himself, would hide their fear for their sake of their pride, to make sure those who inspired it did not know. Kurt could quite easily see him hiding his fear for whatever, but… That begged the question; what did he have to _fear_? Sebastian, Kurt could imagine, was likely to be terrifying in certain situations, but… Morrison hadn't mentioned Sebastian…

Kurt's eyes fell, of their own accord, onto Blaine. The black haired boy was sandwiched between Sebastian and David, laughing hysterically at something that was being said by Wes. Keats couldn't be afraid of _Blaine_, could he? Kurt shook his head, looking Blaine over again. There was nothing remotely intimidating about him, but, unbidden, Blaine's words to Kurt after Kurt had told him and Keats were official floated to the front of his mind;

…"…_I did things, at the end, __**in**__ the end, that I'm not proud of…"_…

Could Blaine have done something _so bad_ that Keats had become _afraid_ of him? Kurt supposed that it was entirely possible, given the fact that Blaine himself had admitted that he was very scared, and Kurt could see how that would keep them from ever crossing back into friendship. The two of them were afraid of getting expelled, so they were too afraid to talk because they were afraid what the other might do to them could result in their own expulsion.

Kurt rubbed his forehead in a frustrated manner. Having that epiphany – of sorts – didn't really help in anyway. In fact, Kurt was sure that everything just got a lot harder. Scared people did stupid things – _Karofsky_ – and it looked like no one apart from Trinity were prepared to risk trying to get them to talk to each other for reasons that Kurt could now entirely understand.

* * *

Blaine tapped on Sebastian's door cautiously. His boyfriend had withdrawn himself from them about an hour ago, and it had now been deemed time for lunch. Blaine wasn't entirely sure what it was, but he felt something clench up inside of him as he stood outside Sebastian's room. It felt like fear, but it was _Sebastian_ on the other side of the door which meant there was nothing there that he needed to be afraid of – he may have been frightened of Sebastian's thoughts of him or being too good for him or whatever, but Blaine had never had any cause to genuinely frightened _of Sebastian_.

Pushing open the door with a sigh, and feeling strangely sick inside, Blaine stepped into Sebastian's darkish room. The blinds were drawn, and the only source of light came from the desk lamp that illuminated the papers that Sebastian was huddled over. He did not look up as Blaine entered, nor react when Blaine switched on the main light and moved to open the curtains.

Feeling nervous by Sebastian's prolonged silence and lack of movement, Blaine shifted from foot to foot and edged closer to his boyfriend. He had a number of theories as to why Sebastian was seemingly snubbing him, but he didn't like any of them, and he would certainly prefer to hear Sebastian's reasons rather than his own panicked thoughts.

"Bastian…" he said, tentatively laying a hand on his shoulder. Sebastian shifted a little bit, but then sat back in his chair, turning his head to look up at Blaine.

"What?" he asked, like he hadn't just ignored Blaine's presence. Blaine blinked at him, not entirely sure what was going on.

"Lunch," Sebastian glanced at his watch then shrugged.

"Nah, not for me; you go and eat with your friends." Blaine felt his brow sink into frown at that because Sebastian didn't miss meals – he frequently berated Blaine about not eating the correct amounts each day.

"Bastian, you always-"

"I _know_ what I always say," he snapped back in a tired voice. Blaine frowned down at him as Sebastian looked away. "Leave me alone, Blaine." Blaine retracted his hand at the coldness in his voice. He had no idea what had gone wrong between the two of them. Still, he couldn't think of anything to say.

He let out a long sigh as he turned around, shoulders slumped, and made his way towards the door, dragging his feet because he didn't know what had just happened, but Sebastian suddenly didn't want to talk to him and he wasn't _eating_! He scrunched his face up in confusion. Putting his hand on the door handle, he paused as he thought. Slowly, he turned around.

"Bastian…" he said, the hesitancy plain in his voice. "Does this have anything to do with me not wanting to, um, sleep with you?" There was nothing but deafening, terrifying, silence. Sebastian did not make any attempt to move or speak. Blaine felt panic rush up through him and tears stung his eyes. Why was this _happening_? What had happened to _his_ Sebastian? The one that had come running to his side in the holidays when he was hurt. The one that had, just earlier _that day_, made him promise to _put himself first_.

Blaine stepped out of Sebastian's room, closing the door behind him. He kept his pace even as the tears welled in his eyes until he was out of earshot because he was not going to give the Sebastian in that room the satisfaction of knowing that he had managed to deeply wound Blaine by what he'd just done; whatever foul game Sebastian was playing, Blaine was not about to let him win.

He stepped into the common room and looked around. His friends took one look at him and froze with shocked looks on their faces. Blaine cracked. Bursting out into noisy sobs, he made a dash for the door to the grounds. It was freezing outside and Blaine had no coat, but he just needed to be as far from Sebastian as was physically possibly so he flew out, ignoring the calls and the yells of his name as people vaulted over furniture to follow him.

"_Blaine_!" Blaine tried to keep running, but knew that he could only outrun Flint because Flint couldn't run anywhere. He could hear someone gaining on him, panting in his ear. He knew that it was either Nick or Thad, but kept his eyes fixed straight ahead as he kept running.

"_Blaine stop_!" A hand fisted into the back of his blazer and forced him to jerk to a halt. Heaving in huge breaths, he tore his grip away to see Thad standing before him, face scarlet and breathing deeply. Nick and David pulled up next to him whilst Flint was bent double some distance back, Jeff and Kurt with him.

He clamped a hand over his eyes as he continued to cry, feeling guilty for making Flint run after him when Blaine _knew_ that he did not carry an inhaler and would chase Blaine because he wanted to help. He felt David pull him into a strong embrace and sobbed into his shoulder in confusion and anger because he had no idea where all that was coming from, but – _of course_ – he couldn't be what Sebastian wanted.

"I'm okay! I'm really fine, Kurt!" he heard Flint wheezing, taking in rasping breaths from where he was no doubt being supported between Jeff and Kurt.

"You shouldn't _run_, you idiot!" he heard Jeff exclaim, and there was the sound of a smack and an "_ow_!", and Blaine found himself smiling into David's shoulder as he visualised Nick hitting Flint around the back of his head for being an idiot.

"Nick!" cried Kurt in a tone of great disapproval, and he knew that Nick was shrugging at him in response.

"What? It doesn't do anyone any good when he dies of an asthma attack; me, David and Thad are more than capable of catching Blaine – he's got stubby little legs."

"Hey!" cried Blaine, pulling from David feeling highly offended by what Nick had said. He could feel anger at the world bubbling up inside of him. Everyone's faces froze in expressions of guilty amusement. "I am _sick_ of people making fun of my height!" Nick held up his hands in a surrender.

"Oh, woah, Blaine, I'm sorry," he took several steps towards Blaine in a placating manner, but Blaine wanted to shout at someone because he had _no idea_ what the hell had just happened between him and Sebastian, and he was pretty sick of feeling crap.

"You're _always_ making fun of me! Guess who else mocked me for my height? _Every fucking person at __**Kinzie**_!" There was a horrified pause in which they all looked sick at the prospect of being like Holt. He saw that Kurt's face looked particularly pale, and he considered saying something to except Kurt from that but he couldn't think what.

"Blaine, we're just…we're just joking, alright?" said David in a very calm voice. "We're _really_ sorry if we hurt your feelings, but I get the feeling this isn't about us; it's about whatever happened between you and Sebastian." Blaine glared at David because _what right_ did he have to _pretend_ that he _understood_ what Blaine had been through? David had never suffered _anything_.

"Shut up!" he spat. "You don't have _a clue_ what it feels like to be me! I am the butt of _every joke_! I am _never _good enough for _anything_, and no one _ever_ wants me!" He wiped away the tears that were running down his face. Thad's hand fisted into his lapel, suddenly, his eyes wide but very intense. Kurt opened his mouth.

"I-"

"_Fighter_ – _not broken_." Blaine stared at Thad because to everyone else that sounded like a load of nonsense, but Thad had just succeeded in stopping his heart. Then it came crashing down because he was doing it again; he was lashing out because he was hurt and confused. He could feel the tears fall faster as everyone looked between them in confusion.

"I _can't_," he said because he couldn't fight his anger; he had lost all control. It had been slipping away from his grasp all term, and now it was gone. Thad's hands fell onto his shoulders, and Blaine couldn't see anyone else because Thad filled his vision.

"You can; I'm _not wrong_." Blaine stared at him because _how_ could he _still_ think that? How was it that after everything Blaine had done could he still hold that belief? It was terrifying, in all honesty, because he had never met anyone with that kind of deep, unwavering, belief in him, but he knew that it was meant to give him strength.

The grass crunched in the silence, and he heard someone move over to them. No one said anything, but their breathing was deep and heavy. Blaine wasn't sure whether he wanted to look at them.

"Blaine," said Kurt softly, and Blaine knew he could not look at Kurt after the parallel he had drawn between Kurt and bullies. "I- I know that you're scared of your anger, and I know you feel worthless a lot of the time, but that's not you talking…that's depression." Blaine looked at the ground because that just made him feel worse and weak. "And it's not a bad thing," he whispered. "It doesn't make you weak, it means that you've suffered, and you _have_ suffered – someone tried to _kill_ you, Blaine; you _nearly died_. I don't think that this is in anyway an overreaction, and, for the record, I have always wanted you." Blaine felt his head shoot up at that. He looked at Kurt with a frown because his treatment of Kurt when he first arrived at Dalton was a big regret of his.

"What?" Kurt gave him a smile, and he felt Thad's hands leave his shoulder as he took a step away.

"Part of the reason I yelled at you was because I didn't think you valued me, and that hurt because I wanted to be your friend. I was afraid, at the beginning, that you would never want to be my friend because who would want to be friends with the person that stole their scholarship? Every time that I have doubted your friendship with me has hurt because I do, _really_, want to be your friend…" Kurt sighed, and Blaine could feel more tears fill his eyes because he was so touched.

"Kurt…" he whispered because he had nothing to say to such kind words which he did not deserve. Kurt took a careful step towards him.

"And your friends are your friends _because_ they want you, Blaine. I don't know what Thad was talking about, but I can tell he believes in you. Flint ran out here, completely disregarding the seriousness of his asthma, because he _wants_ to help. The problem with the world is that it's _not_ our obligation to care about everyone – it should be, but it's not. We don't _have to_ care about people; the people that matter are the people that _chose_ to love you…and that's what everyone standing here has done."

Blaine took a deep breath at Kurt's words, putting a hand over his mouth as he let it out in a shaky fashion. He let the tears fall down his face because his head was a mess; he was swinging through phases of complete happiness to crash back down into the terrible reality of his simmering anger and all his fear.

"_You're not alone because you're here with me_…" muttered David, taking a couple of steps back towards Blaine. Kurt stepped out to the side to let his other friends form a little semi-circle before him. He took a couple of deep breaths, managing a smile.

"I'm sorry…" he said, hopelessly, and everyone just shook their heads.

"Kurt's right," said Flint, nodding seriously. "you are not at fault here. You've been through terrible things these past two and a half years…We're here to help and support you, and we all know that everyday isn't sunshine, but you should also know that simply _shouting_ at Nick is not enough to drive him away." Blaine managed a proper laugh at that, looking over at Nick who was shrugging and smirking.

"Hey, they all have a point, and I'm well known for not knowing when to stop and saying things that aggravate people." Everyone laughed at that, and Nick's eyes glinted. "_Hugs_!" he yelled and pulled them all into a tight group hug. Blaine laughed at that, pulling Thad and David, who were on either side of him, as close as he could.

"Thank you, Kurt," he said as he reached forward to embrace the taller boy. Kurt hugged him back tightly before looking down at him with a smile.

"If you want to give me something for Christmas; _believe_ it," Blaine laughed, wiping his eyes and thanking the heavens for his wonderful friends.

"So what happened between you and Sebastian?" asked Jeff as they all agreed to make their way back to the common room. Blaine shivered and shook his head.

"I have- I have _no idea_," he said, still shaking his head because that was something he couldn't riddle out. "I went up, and he didn't reply to my knock or react as I went in. He was just sitting at his desk, and he said he didn't want to _eat_." There were some shocked looks at that.

"But Sebastian is Mr Eat-your-five-a-day-and-breakfast-is-the-most-important-meal!" exclaimed Nick. "He glares at you every time you _consider_ missing meals. Hell, sometimes he glares at _me_!" Blaine nodded.

"I know, which made me worried, but he just told me to go away…it was weird…" There was a pause in which all the boys exchanged looks.

"What happened next?" asked David in a wary tone of voice. "What did he say that reduced you to a very angry mess?" Blaine swallowed and bit his lip.

"I asked him whether it was because I- " Blaine found himself flushing and not at all in love with the idea of continuing. He paused, stopping in his tracks and looked at all their faces which were ranged between confused, hesitant and knowing. "I asked whether it was about me not- not wanting to do…_it_." There was a heavy pause.

"What did he say?" asked Jeff through gritted teeth, and Blaine could see that his whole posture was tense. The atmosphere was undeniably wrought with a sense of high nerves. He knew that everyone, except Kurt who looked worried, was thinking about Daley.

"He didn't say anything," he said softly. "I took that as a yes." There was a long silence.

"I'm going to fucking _kill him_!" exclaimed Jeff and dashed off towards Franklin before anyone could stop him. Blaine felt his heart sink and suddenly wanted to be sick.

"Um…who fancies running after him?" There was a long silence at David's question before Thad was tearing after him. Blaine watched as Thad, shorter yet faster and stronger, gained on Jeff and, just before he reached the door to Franklin, threw himself forward in a dive that sent them both crashing to the floor. They all winced in unison.

"That's a relief," said Nick, casually, like his best friend hadn't just declared that he was going to murder their head boy and friend's boyfriend and been rugby tackled to the ground by his god-brother. They all burst out laughing, even Blaine.

"What are we going to do?" asked Flint, and Blaine felt something swell inside of him at that because it was _Blaine's_ problem, but it was also shared between them; it was their problem too because they cared.

"I think we should diffuse Jeff first," said David with a frown. "Then we can work out what to do with Sebastian; I could rope Wes in." Blaine shook his head at that and saw Kurt was frowning at him.

"Kurt?" he asked, and, as they reached the pile that Thad holding down Jeff, Kurt let out a long sigh.

"Haven't you had this conversation with him?" he asked, cautiously. "I was just- I was just thinking about our conversation before the holidays." Blaine frowned at him as Nick, David and Flint tried to convince Jeff that murdering Sebastian wasn't a good idea. "You told me that Sebastian had slept with Nick."

"Oh," he muttered, remembering it better now, but not sure where Kurt was going. "Yes…?" Kurt sighed.

"You said that sex to Sebastian didn't carry the same weight as it did to us… I mean, surely you've _talked_ about this just a little bit. I mean, it has to have come up because Sebastian said…" Kurt seemed to suck in a huge breath. "before you asked him out he said that you were the first person that made him consider a monogamous relationship… The fact that he just did one night stands, no strings attached, you have to have talked about it." Blaine examined the grass between his feet, nodding as he rubbed his numb fingers together.

"Yeah, we have." Kurt frowned at him, tilting his head to side slightly.

"What did he say?" Blaine felt a tiny smile spreading across his face as he remembered what Sebastian had said to him.

"He said he wanted, you know, _me_, but he wouldn't do it to me because I wasn't ready." He glanced up at Kurt and saw that he was staring at him like he was an idiot. "What?" he asked. Kurt rolled his eyes as the others rolled their eyes.

"What makes you think anything has changed since then?" Blaine sighed, having not wanted to go into the details of his conversation in the grounds.

"Did he say something when you went out on that walk?" asked David, eyes narrowed in a shrewd expression. Blaine nodded.

"I told him that I hadn't got him a Christmas present, and he basically suggested…" There was a pause in which Jeff's jaw was jumping. There was a very awkward silence.

"O-kaaay…" said Nick, looking like he wanted to make fun of the situation but was restraining himself. "This whole situation just got _intensely_ weird, mainly because I feel like if I say something smart then I'll be murdered from, like, 360 degrees." There were snorts at that and some nods.

"Maybe he's scared," said Flint, suddenly, and everyone turned to stare at him with raised eyebrows and wide eyes. Flint held up his hands. "I'm just saying; you nearly _died_, which means that Sebastian nearly _lost_ you, like, two months after he got you…" Everyone continued to stare at him, but Flint held up his hands. "Look, it's just a suggestion…No one said I was right, but do any of you have any better ideas?" There was a long silence. Blaine rubbed a hand over his face.

"It sort of makes sense…" he said, slowly. "I mean…he made me promise him that I would always put myself first…It was a bit odd…It was a bit like he was worried about me…" There was another long pause.

"I think you should go and talk to him," offered Kurt, eventually. "Flint may have a point." Blaine swallowed, not entirely sure what he would say.

"After lunch?" he asked, well aware that the others would have eaten without them, but he was hungry. Nick shuddered.

"You strange, _strange_, person…" Blaine gave him a small shove, smile on his face.

"That's a bit rich! _You_ calling _me_ strange." Nick hooked an arm around Blaine and Jeff's shoulders, making an "_ah_" that sounded very reminiscent, and the others began to laugh.

* * *

_I have to admit, I'm somewhere between stunned and proud of myself. I cannot believe that I came so close to admitting how I felt…Now that Blaine's calmed down they all keep shooting me knowing looks because I __**did**__ – sort of – because I didn't say that I wanted Blaine as a friend to start with…It just sort of came spilling out of my mouth because it was __**so painful**__ to hear him say all those things. I mean, I covered it up well, and I didn't lie, but…I feel weird…It's a weight off my chest, but there's also this weird pang because I don't think Blaine considered for __**one second**__ that I may have meant it any other way. However, I'm proud of what I said to him; I genuinely think it made a lot of difference, and for telling him to talk to Sebastian…I'm __**helping**__ their relationship! This is baffling. _

"Kurt," said Flint, tapping his shoulder and causing him to jolt from where he had been sitting at the kitchen table. Kurt blinked and looked up at him.

"Yes?" Flint looked around and then gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Are you alright?" he asked, softly. Kurt sat up straighter, frowning, as Flint sunk into a chair so they were on eye level.

"What do you mean?" Flint sighed.

"I _mean_ that you came pretty close to telling Blaine how you felt, and you were talking from experience back then. Kurt sighed, rolling his neck, and heard it click. Then he sighed.

"I have no idea how I feel. I don't think it crossed his mind for a second that I might have meant that in a not-platonic way, and that hurts quite a lot." Flint nodded.

"Yeah…" he snorted softly. "Yeah, I understand." Kurt nodded, absent-mindedly, but then frowned, something coming into his mind.

_Maybe I know, somewhere deep in my soul_ _That love never lasts_ _And we've got to find other ways to make it alone_ _Or keep a straight face_ _But darling, you are the only exception_ _You are the only exception_…

He turned to Flint with a frown on his face, wondering who on earth Flint had a crush on, and opened his mouth to ask him as much when Nick and Jeff came crashing towards them, and Flint's expression jumped to one of suspicion.

"Please tell me that you didn't do anything to Sebastian," he said in a pleading voice, and they both grinned and shook their heads. Kurt narrowed his eyes, noting the slightly mischievous glint in Jeff's eyes.

"We need to borrow you, Flint, we think we've finalised our song choices." Flint rolled his eyes and shot Kurt an apologetic look.

"I apologise for whatever mischief they may have caused," he said, and Kurt let them go with a laugh. He watched as they were joined by David and Thad, and the five of them left, talking loudly. He pondered, briefly, who Flint was crushing on but then noticed Blaine coming down the stairs. He leapt to his feet and hurried round to him, noting the crushed look on his face.

"How did it go?" he asked. Blaine shook his head, looking around with a frown for the others. "They went to do something about song choices." Blaine nodded and then shook his head again.

"He wasn't alone. He was with Daley, Wes and Liam, and I couldn't- I couldn't do it…I bluffed my way through a brief conversation about…about performing and setting up and everything, and Wes started talking about Warblers, but…" he shook his head, rubbing his hands over his eyes.

"It's okay, Blaine…" he said, softly, but Blaine didn't seem to hear him as he exclaimed;

"I don't know what to do! Sebastian's going to be going to set the hall up soon, and he'll be with them. I can't do it _in front of them_! Wes will make fun of me, and I-" Kurt instinctively put his hands on Blaine's shoulders as he began to panic. He gave him a very pointed look that told him to breathe deeply. Blaine did as he was told, shooting Kurt a sheepish smile.

"You need to stop panicking, Blaine, maybe you could make up at the party." There was a tiny part of Kurt that was questioning his sanity because there was a part of him that was thinking that there was a way to exploit this for his own ends, but he stamped it down because Blaine was his friend. In the end this wasn't like when he'd been fighting with Rachel over Finn; mainly because it wasn't two people vying for another's attention. That, and his relationship with Blaine was just different; he wasn't ready to risk his friendship with Blaine for anything except certain reciprocation of his love – he didn't have that.

"Yeah…" Blaine's breath in response to his statement snapped Kurt from his thoughts. He shook his head slightly and then focused his attention back onto the smaller boy. "Maybe I can…Oh, Kurt you are the best." He said, breaking out into a grin, and Kurt had to give him one in return. "Come on, why don't you show me this poem that Keats wrote you?" Kurt stared at him, a little taken aback by his suggestion but smiled nonetheless.

He led Blaine back to his room – Juri was once more in Chris' room – and picked up the little book, offering it to Blaine. He sat by Blaine's side and watched the careful way he held the book and noticed the small smile that graced his lips as he continued to read. He nodded as he looked up, handing it to Kurt with a proper smile.

"Now _that_ is a Keats I can talk about," he said. "Wait one second," Kurt blinked as Blaine darted from the room, not really sure what Blaine meant by that, but definitely sure that his reaction had been more than a good thing. Before he could wonder whether Morrison was wrong in what he said, Blaine returned with several small books in his hands. Kurt sat up in interest.

"Did he write those for you?" he asked. Blaine shrugged and moved his head from side to side.

"These two-" he gestured with his right hand. "-are for me, but this-" he gestured with the left hand. "-was written for Thad, but don't worry, he won't mind." Kurt felt a little bit more hope flare up inside him at that because Blaine and Thad had kept them – Blaine had told Kurt that he got migraines because of this, but he'd _kept_ the poem that Keats had written him – which had to mean something.

"What are they about?" he asked. Blaine shrugged, spreading them out on the bed between them.

"This one's about my arrival at Dalton, the next one was what he wrote for me after I told him about the suicide and the one for Thad is about mystery. They're not as long as yours, but I can't imagine how long he spent on that poem…managed to get his favourite things in, though." Kurt frowned in confusion, and Blaine smiled at him. "He loves adding in things about mythology and the stars…It always comes up, here;" he opened the first little book and read aloud to Kurt;

_Stand_

_For Blaine,_

_In the hope that you have found somewhere that is stable ground beneath your feet._

_I stand on the edge of the worst unknown,  
For the land before me is well traversed by others,  
But I am not others._

_I stand with the strength of but one man,  
For I am nothing more or less,  
Than a skeleton in a bag of skin._

_I stand upon legs that have borne me far,  
But can barely hold me now,  
__As with each passing second they grow wearier._

_I stand upon legs of simple bone and muscle,  
And do not bear the Herculean strength,  
Of what I somehow see in others._

_How can I stand like a god,  
And hold my head up high?  
When I stink with the stench of defeat._

_They stand like creatures from another world,  
And as I watch them move,  
I wonder what great deeds have granted them that._

_I will try to stand upon Olympus,  
But I fear that I tumble for such a high perch,  
And I shall break and shatter – again._

_So as I stand upon the edge of the worst unknown,  
I force me knees to hold firm and not buckle,  
For I stand still._

Kurt smiled at the poem because it was like the one that Keats had given him, but at the same it was very different. Whilst the one that he'd written for Kurt had been tribute to Kurt's strength, this was more about the struggle that Blaine was facing when he immediately arrived at Dalton, broken from the events of his first school. There were not as many references to Greek mythology, but the image of the strength that they possessed was still there, except this was something that Blaine was trying to emulate as opposed to something that Kurt equalled.

"His poetry is really beautiful," he murmured, and Blaine nodded.

"Yes, he has a way of capturing emotions and amplifying them. His writing is the only thing about him I still admire." Kurt looked at him and then opened the second poem which was even shorter. He read the title _Faith and Hope_ and flicked to the next page which bore the enscription; _For Blaine, In the hope that your suffering may soon come to pass_, before turning over with interest, reading;

_Faith is nothing more or less,  
Than a flickering candle,  
That shines on in the darkness of our heart._

_Hope is nothing more or less,  
Than a promise we tell ourselves,  
To guide us through the darkest of nights._

_However ephemeral they are, though,  
We could not bare to live,  
Without their steady presence in our lives._

_I would wish for you, despite this,  
To carry them with you always,  
For the sake of your tortured soul._

_One day they may bring you peace._

It was undeniably painful for him to read Keats' words to Blaine after he'd found out what he'd tried to do because the friendship between them was written on the page before him. Here it was, clear as day, the proof that Keats and Blaine had shared a strong, caring, relationship where Keats was there to offer the same comfort and assurance that he gave to Kurt. He could not quite imagine what it must feel like to lose that.

"It's good, isn't it?" said Blaine. "I like the last line; faith and hope may bring me peace…I still want to believe that more than anything; that if I can just believe in myself and other people enough I may be able to get some form of comfort or resolution." Kurt sighed sadly.

"You lost this?" he murmured, understanding more what Morrison had said; Blaine had been through so much, and he'd lost so much – he was not prepared to risk it all again with Keats, not after what he'd lost.

"Yeah…it's why I could-" he broke off, choking up. "I could never trust him again, Kurt, I'm sorry. I don't want to risk getting angry, and I don't want anyone getting hurt, but I can't risk gaining and losing that again…How could I believe those words anymore?" he sighed, deeply, shaking his head. Kurt bit the inside of his lip, looking for something to say.

"I understand," he said, eventually. "I understand…" He glanced at the last book. "Does it shed an interesting light on Thad?" Blaine blinked, pulled himself away from whatever thoughts he'd been having before looking at the book.

"I guess…" he said, slowly. "I mean, the two of them never really knew each other; they only really overlapped through their friends – they have nothing common."

"Except for looking after you," he joked. Blaine laughed a little at that, nodding and rolling his eyes.

"Yes, I suppose, but he wrote this before he met me." Kurt examined the little book again.

"It's very long," Blaine laughed at that.

"Yes, he rambles quite a bit in it…It is an interesting read, but man can your boyfriend go off on tangents." Blaine shook his head. "I swear, it's really good, but half of that is him just word-vomiting." Kurt laughed loudly at his words.

"I'm sure that he'd be most offended to hear you say that," Blaine snorted, picking up the book and reading the title aloud to Kurt. "_Enigma__ For Thad, In the hope to provide something towards whatever you want or need_." Kurt frowned mildly.

"Does he always write "_in the hope_" at the beginning of everything?" Blaine pulled a face, shrugging.

"I suppose he does. I'd never really noticed that before." He handed the book to Kurt. "It's a long read, and I'm not going to try and pronounce some of the words in there." Kurt rolled his eyes and flipped the page, sending Blaine an amused glare before reading aloud;

_In order to solve an enigma,  
First I must sit down and examine,  
Each puzzle that lies before me,  
And each digit and letter in turn._

_I cannot understand, however,  
Any of these things,  
If I know nothing about,  
The one who codes it._

_For each marking made,  
Bears a shadow,  
A residue,  
Of its maker._

_Like a footprint,  
Or a shadow.  
It falls distinctly,  
Like a snowflake._

_And it remains,  
Holding its crystalline form,  
Though the world around it,  
Attempts to wipe it away._

_It is like Atlas' hand,  
With all its size and power,  
Has placed itself against the Earth's surface,  
And is attempting to rub it away._

_But nothing is easy as that.  
One cannot simply flick off  
A man that does not exist,  
And make him vanish._

_He is like a shadow,  
Or a ghost that is haunting,  
Places that he has known,  
And things that he will know._

_To be without knowing,  
Is to stand in the world,  
Shrouded by invisibility,  
Like Perseus on his quest._

_But what is your quest?  
What monster do you seek to slay?  
And was it death,  
That has masked you?_

_But masked you are,  
From me, from them, from all,  
And what can we do?  
To pull away your veil?_

_More importantly, though,  
Is do we have that right?  
What right have we to pull away your protection,  
And reveal you to the world?_

_For you are hidden,  
As something deep inside,  
Something damaged and tortured,  
Writhes in pain._

_You turn away from the light,  
And you cower and falter,  
As the spotlight descends,  
And you question; do they care?_

_Is this a personal thing,  
Where they seek to help,  
Or do they seek for the sake of knowledge,  
And make you a means to an end._

_Is that what you have been before?  
Have you been foetal and fragile,  
For so much time,  
That you know nothing more?_

_For all it takes is a wall.  
A wall to be built around you,  
To guard the whimpering child,  
And hid it from fear and shame and to preserve._

_But where is your Trojan horse?  
And who does it bear?  
Who will pierce your armour?  
And expose your Achilles' heel?_

_What will cause you to tear down the walls?  
To brave the sunlight.  
The stares.  
Silence._

_Will you stand tall,  
And unfurl,  
From where you are safe,  
To fight your battle._

_Are you like King Arthur?  
To rise and protect your kingdom  
When the need is truly great,  
And all hope has failed._

_But if that is the case,  
Would you take it?  
One look in your eyes  
Says you do not believe in heroes._

_And what vanquished you before?  
Was it a mere accident?  
A betrayal?  
Love?_

_You are no hero,  
We all see that clearly,  
But what you hide from us  
Is not for the faint of heart._

_Maybe you have not fought in bloody battles,  
Or travelled the River Styx,  
But you have seen things,  
That would make us weep and cry,_

_So maybe that answers all.  
Do you curl into a ball,  
So that your eyes may not see  
Anything more or less than you?_

_You do not have to see the suffering  
From where you lie,  
And you must not know pain  
If there is no one there to inflict it on you._

_However, pain is easy to be inflicted by you.  
Your mind will turn against you,  
And it will try to trick you,  
And make you hate yourself._

_Your self-inflicted wounds,  
From all your guilt and hate,  
Will be etched to your heart;  
Cracked and torn and frayed._

_The enigma machine clicks on.  
The rotors turn  
As signals are analysed  
To try and understand you._

_It does not seem to matter to you,  
That others seek to open you up,  
Like you are nothing at all,  
But you give nothing away._

_You talk,  
You sing,  
You dance,  
You live._

_Until it ends.  
The stars fall down upon you  
As the Titans are released  
__Who you must face alone._

_And there is your weakness;  
There is the gap in your armour,  
Your poisoned tunic,  
And your Trojan horse and Achilles' heel._

_It has all been revealed at once,  
And so the vultures descend to tear,  
Until nothing but a bloody, ragged,  
Carcass remains._

_Yet you remain,  
As bloody and torn and shredded.  
You still exist  
Because something is not done yet._

_You fall from grace,  
Like Lucifer's fall from Heaven.  
The Morning Star that shone so bright,  
Is nothing more than a cold reminder of all that could have been._

_Of pride,  
Vanity,  
Idolatry,  
And faith._

_Maybe the problem with it all  
Is that you are not meant to be solved.  
You were not created for pleasure or fun,  
But to hide something behind smoke and mirrors._

_We are not meant to crack codes,  
Or to discover buried secrets,  
But the selfish nature of humanity,  
Commands that we do so._

_We will consume you with our burning fires,  
Of curiosity and self-righteousness,  
And you will break and burn,  
Or rise as a phoenix from the ashes._

_The outcome is irrelevant.  
What matters is a result.  
We must know.  
We must know._

_So hide beneath your cryptic code,  
Live your double life,  
But remember that on no account  
Will your secret go unsolved._

Kurt stared at the last line of the poem, thinking that that was a rather ominous, threatening, ending to it all. He understood what Blaine meant about rambling; in the other poems he'd stuck very clearly to the main theme, but in this one it was like he was following his train of thought, and then suddenly remembering that he was meant to be writing about enigmas and puzzles. He wasn't entirely sure what to think, most of it was a little bit unnerving.

"There weren't exactly many long words in there," he said, eventually, sending Blaine an accusatory look as he handed the book back to him. Blaine chuckled.

"Sorry, I just wanted to watch your expression whilst you read it; it's funny." Kurt tried to not blush at the fact that Blaine wanted to watch him and so joined in laughing with him.

"That's a little bit creepy," he joked, and Blaine pulled an offended face.

"Kurt…that's mean!" Kurt laughed even harder at his wide, puppy dog, eyes. Blaine gave him a playful shove, and Kurt shoved him right back. Blaine righted himself and then pushed Kurt so that he collapsed, laughing, against his pillow. Snatching it up, he whacked it down on him. "Oh!" yelled Blaine, leaping off the bed. "You want a war?" Kurt just kept laughing and whacked the pillow at him again. "You asked for it!" Blaine snatched up Juri's pillows and brought it smashing down on him. Kurt couldn't stop laughing and neither could Blaine as feathers exploded all around them.

* * *

_Okay, it's now officially evening and time for the party. Juri was unsurprisingly not amused by us showering feathers all over the room, but Blaine's been in a much better mood since Sebastian so I consider it worth Juri slipping and sliding over them all and trying to clean them all away. Thankfully, Dalton is well prepared for such things and has a large supply of spare pillows for just this occasion. Juri has already vanished off with Chris and Daniel, and Blaine has gone ahead with David and the others. So it's just me, waiting for Keats._

Kurt looked around at the sound of the knock on the door from where he'd been waiting the gentle snow fall from his window. He ran down the room and opened the door, a smile spreading across his face, and saw Keats standing there wearing a long, dark, coat over his uniform.

"Ready?" he asked, and Kurt, snatching up Blaine's old scarf and winding it around his neck, nodded. Keats frowned, just a little bit, at the scarf before picking up Kurt's coat and helping him put it on. Kurt had shaken his head, but couldn't stop a flattered smile spread across his face at the same time. Keats offered Kurt his arm, and Kurt, blushing heavily, hooked his own through it.

"Let's go," he said, and Keats began to walk with long strides down the hallway, dictating a pace that made it easy for the two of them to walk side by side. "I read some more of your poetry," he said as they made their way down the stairs. Keats cast him an interested, curious, look as the corners of his mouth turned up slightly into a smile.

"Really, which ones?"

"Um…let me remember their names…_Stand_, _Hope and Faith_ and _Enigma_."

"_Faith and Hope_," corrected Keats, automatically, and Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Alright, but you know exactly which ones I mean." Keats nodded as he held open the door for Kurt before taking his hand.

"Yes, I do, and I'm surprised that Blaine still has them. I would have thought he'd have burned them by now, or at least torn them up in anger." Kurt cast him a disapproving look.

"He's very attached to the poems, and I think he misses that version of you." Keats rolled his eyes.

"I'm not a different person, Kurt, I didn't morph into some _cruel beast_ or whatever. I'm the same person, and it's only because Blaine can't handle what he did that he thinks otherwise." Kurt refrained from rolling his eyes because that just sounded like a jab at Blaine being weak which was not an argument he was going to agree on with Keats.

"Either way," he said, steering the conversation back into safer waters. "I thought it was amazing." Keats smiled at that. "Though I do agree that _Enigma_ rambles quite a lot," Keats heaved a sigh.

"Yes, my greatest mistake; getting drawn into the mystery." Kurt frowned at him, interested in the faraway look in his eyes.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, curiously. Keats blinked and cast him a small smile.

"A silence is inviting, Kurt, you fill it with guesses and sound because no one care understand why a silence exists; Thad is a silence. We make cast aspersions upon him and garner no reaction. He can free fall for miles and miles, crash and burn and break, and then pick himself up and carry on like it never happened. We cannot understand so we speculate and once we begin we cannot stop. Speculation is like an addiction; we must be proved right and find the answer for fear that we will come apart without it." Kurt looked at his boyfriend in shock and managed a smile because he had never met anyone that could make something like that sound completely natural. Keats caught his smile. "What?" Kurt shook his head.

"Nothing…you're probably the only person that can say that and not sound ridiculous." Keats shrugged in a casual manner.

"It comes from thinking too much, Kurt." He said as they stepped into the hall and were both overwhelmed by the noise that was being generated. He could hear the sounds of music being pumped around from giant speakers that had been arranged around the hall. Strobe lighting had been attached to the ceiling that cast spots of white, green, red, blue and yellow around the hall. It was packed full of hundreds of bodies, gyrating along to the music.

"Are you drinking?" he called over the music, looking at Keats whose eyes were scanning the hall. Keats looked back at him, face scrunched up in confusion before shrugging.

"Maybe a little!" he yelled back, and Kurt nodded as they made their way over to the refreshments table. Kurt quickly grabbed a coke and poured it into a cup whilst Keats eyed the punch and then ladled some out.

"How are you not all deaf?" he asked with a laugh, and Keats, bending close to hear what Kurt had said, snorted.

"Miracles!" he said, and Kurt laughed some more at that. "I have to warn you that I'm a very bad dancer!" Kurt looked at his boyfriend in amusement.

"As bad as your singing?" Keats pulled a face whilst Kurt continued to smile at him. Keats shook his head, eventually.

"I think it might be worse!" he said, and Kurt burst out into laughter at that, shaking his head incredulously because Keats' singing was truly _dreadful_. "But you dance well enough for both of us, I think!" Kurt blushed at the flirtatious look on his face and then rolled his eyes.

"What makes you think that flattery will get me risking myself out there with you?" he asked, and Keats gave him a nonchalant shrug, sipping at his drink. Kurt copied his action, feeling himself almost choke on the bubbles and let out a startled cough. Keats raised a hand to pat his back, but Kurt gave him a glare that made him stop. He coughed once more and then took another sip, swallowing properly this time.

"If you refuse to risk yourself, as you say, then I'm afraid that I might have to take a more serious course of action." Kurt arched his eyebrow, challengingly.

"I think I'm going to be stronger than you, Keats, I'm the one that's a cheerleader." Keats pursed his lips, eyeing Kurt up and down with an intense look. Then he sighed.

"Alright, you may have me there, but…" he trailed off, draining his cup with a smile. "I could enlist the help of Crawford." Kurt felt his eyes widened in horror.

"You wouldn't…" he said, looking at Keats whose face had become undeniably wicked all of a sudden.

"Do you want to find out?" he asked, a perfectly innocent smile on his face. Kurt took a long sip of his drink, deciding that it was definitely _not_ worth the risk of dealing with the crazy ones – Kurt highly doubted that Keats would enlist the help of Elise, Jenny, Cat or Lottie – and that his boyfriend was undeniably evil.

"You're pure evil," he said, hiding his smirk as he drunk the rest of the contents from his cup, and Keats simply looked at Kurt with both eyebrows raised, a small smile curling the corners of his lips.

"Now, how can you possibly say that?" He plucked the empty cup from between Kurt's fingers and threw it back onto the table. Kurt watched him with a raised eyebrow and suppressed smile as Keats grabbed his hand and pulled him into the melee of bodies, both of them breaking out into laughter as they dodged between people to find an empty space.

"_Hello Dalton_!" Kurt came to a halt and looked around to see David, bass guitar slung around his shoulder and microphone in hand, beaming down at the crowd from his position on the stage. Kurt saw that Thad stood before another microphone, tuning an electric guitar whilst Jeff was adjusting the microphone by his drum kit. "_Now, I know that no one wants to listen to me so I have one thing to say; ON NO ACCOUNT LET FRED OR TRINITY NEAR THE FIREWORKS_!" Everyone burst out into laughter at that. Keats shook his head, rolling his eyes whilst Kurt wondered what sort of mayhem Trinity would wreak if they got their hands on some fireworks.

"_And without further ado_," broke in Jeff, finally satisfied by the height of his microphone. "_Let's get this party started_!" There was an appreciative cheer as Jeff began the drum beat, and Thad began to play the distinct intro of _Animal_, the three of them harmonising along with their playing.

_Here we go again, I kinda want to be more than friends_

_So take it easy on me, I'm afraid you're never satisfied_

Flint came gliding out from somewhere backstage, the microphone headset blaring the sound of his voice out around the hall. He sang and danced effortlessly, a semi-smirk on his face, and Kurt watched him with a grin.

_Here we go again, we're sick like animals, we play pretend_

_You're just a cannibal and I'm afraid I won't get out alive_

Nick appeared from the left side of the stage, smirk growing as the general population of Crawford squealed at his appearance. He made his way to the front of the stage with a swagger in his step, and Kurt could tell that Nick was in his element.

_No, I won't sleep tonight_

_Oh, oh, I want some more_

_Oh, oh, what are you waiting for?_

_Take a bite of my heart tonight_

As everyone else in the hall – including Kurt and Keats – jumped up and down and waved their hands in the air, the two boys danced at the front of the stage, hips swaying, and Nick shooting flirty winks at Flint and the rest of the crowd.

_Oh, oh, I want some more_

_Oh, oh, what are you waiting for?_

_What are you waiting for?_

_Say goodbye to my heart tonight_

Kurt didn't know whether he was meant to take their performance seriously, but, whilst Flint danced around in a fairly normal manner, Nick was pulling very…_strained_…faces and running his hands across his chest, which made him crack up, especially as most of the girls from Crawford drooled over the Warbler.

Keats was every bit as bad a dancer as he'd warned, but Kurt had to admit it was highly endearing, even though it meant ducking and dodging to avoid getting his eye poked out. Kurt had eventually decided that it was safer to hold Keats' hands so that no one in the vicinity ended up with a concussion. Still, he was fun to be with, and Kurt could almost not believe that he was here – in a school where to guys could sing a highly flirtatious duet together and no one batted an eyelid – dancing right next to his seemingly uncoordinated boyfriend.

However, despite Keats' arms deciding that they wanted to circle round his waste, it was genuinely _very hard_ to keep his gaze from straying back to the two boys on stage who commanded everyone's attention with their undeniably sexy voices and dance moves. Kurt could tell that Nick was flirting heavily with Flint who was red faced from the dancing. Kurt could also have sworn that, once or twice during the song, Jeff and David burst out laughing for no real reason – or at least there was a random burst of static before their harmonies reappeared. Thad looked his normal, unflappable, self as he bobbed along by his microphone, but Jeff and David certainly found _something_ amusing, and Flint kept rolling his eyes as Nick winked and smirked non-stop.

_Hush, hush, the world is quiet_

Kurt was continually surprised by what the Dalton boys could do with the Hall as Flint sung, both him and Nick making their way along the two gantries that ran along either side, finger over his lips.

_Hush, hush, we both can't fight it_

Nick leant over the railing, knowing smile on his face, as girls' hands reached up to try and touch him.

_It's us that made this mess_

Flint leaned back, opening his arms wide and gesturing to the crazy mass of students below them, who had certainly cranked the crazy up a notch since they'd started singing.

_Why can't you understand?_

Nick pulled a saddened face, eyes going wide and baleful like a puppy dog's as he slid down the railing, eyes locked with Flint's.

_Whoa, I won't sleep tonight_

As Flint got to the end of the line, they made a run back for the stage, and, whilst Flint drew up short, breathing deeply, Nick threw himself forward into a flip, David dodging out of the way at the last second, breaking out into an impressive dance routine as Flint hung to side of the stage, catching his breath.

_I won't sleep tonight_

_Here we go again_

_Oh, oh, I want some more_

_Oh, oh, what are you waiting for?_

_Take a bite of my heart tonight_

Nick had dragged Flint back to the front of the stage as they joined their voices together again. Keats caught hold of Kurt's left hand with his right and began to dance him from side to side like he'd done back in Kurt's room, which seemed to be the only way Keats _could_ dance.

_Oh, oh, I want some more_

_Oh, oh, what are you waiting for?_

_What are you waiting for?_

_What are you waiting_

Kurt joined in singing the song, giving his boyfriend a glare that told him not to ruin the song for Kurt by shouting out the lyrics out of tune. Keats' response to that was simply to press his lips against Kurt's, effectively silencing them both and offering a fair alternative to singing. He let go of Kurt's hand, sliding his own up Kurt's arm and neck until it came to rest against his cheek. Kurt let his free hand fall against Keats' upper arm, holding on loosely.

_Here we go again, oh, oh_

_Say goodbye to my heart tonight_

_Oh, oh, I want some more_

_Oh, oh, what are you waiting for?_

_What are you waiting for?_

_Say goodbye to my heart tonight_

They broke apart when the song ended, and the hall erupted in a cheer for the two boys who stood, back to back with their arms folded, under a spotlight. Kurt, scarlet for several reasons, raised his hands above his head as he applauded them; their voices sounded incredible together and the performance had been quite something, and Keats, rolling his eyes, gave them a polite round of applause.

Kurt watched with some interest, allowing Keats' arms to go around his waist in a rather possessive manner, as Blaine was hoisted up onto the stage, and Nick and Flint took off their microphones, swapping them with Jeff and David. Nick then took the bass guitar whilst Flint dropped down at the drum kit. Blaine hooked up his own microphone whilst Thad was the only person that hadn't moved.

"_Alright_!" yelled David. "_This is a tribute to the person that stopped QT from getting to number one_!" An appreciative roar rose from the crowd, and Kurt, remembering what Chris had said they'd written about his family, joined in. A glance to his right told him that Keats was nodding along to David's words – how often did that happen? – and was clapping again.

"Here," Kurt jumped as Wes appeared by his side. "take a cup; blue is non-alcoholic, red is alcoholic." Kurt, rolling his eyes and knowing what would be performed next, took one blue and one red cups that were both half full. He handed the red one to Keats as Thad began to play the intro again.

_Right, right turn off the lights_

There were squawks around the hall as, not a long after Jeff had strutted forward, the lights around the hall blinked out, leaving only the spotlight over Jeff on.

_We gonna lose our minds tonight_

_What's the dealeo?_

Kurt hadn't heard him sing that much before – only his part in the play – but he was struck by, like Nick and Flint, how much of a stage presence he was; he was totally at ease up there as he pulled faces, completely comfortable and in control.

_I love when it's all too much_

_5 a.m., turn the radio up_

_Where's the rock and roll?_

David came forward as the lights came back on – most people sighed in relief and laughed – and he did a little dance before doing some rather over exaggerated air guitar.

_Party crasher, panty snatcher_

_Call me up if you a gangster_

Kurt face palmed as Blaine, who had just stared singing with a smile on his face, made a phone with his hand and pulled a very strange expression as he crossed his arms so that his hands hid the lower half of his face.

_Don't be fancy, just get dancey_

_Why so serious?_

Blaine did a little spin and then pulled a questioning face, arms wide, palms to the ceiling, and Kurt rolled his eyes at him for no real reason.

_So raise your glass if you are wrong_

_In all the right ways_

_All my underdogs, we will never, never be_

_Anything but loud and nitty gritty, dirty little freaks_

Everyone, which, unfortunately enough for Kurt, included Keats, burst into song along with them in time for the chorus, leaping up and down on the spot as they raised their cups into the air, some – like Keats – managing to spill the contents.

_Won't you come on and come on, and_

_Raise your glass_

_Just come on and come and_

_Raise your glass_

Jeff, David and Blaine leapt around on the stage, punching their arms into the air where they also held cups and encouraging the whole crowd to jump a little higher, raises their cups with a little more energy and sing even louder.

Kurt had to admit, as he took a break from leaping in the air to hydrate himself with some more fizzy drink, that it was probably a better performance than _Animal_ because Nick and Flint's performance had been rather hot, but there had also been a slightly odd side to it – which might just have been because Kurt wasn't attracted to either boy, and Nick's facial expressions had been a bit over the top – whereas this just had the whole hall bouncing along, singing with them, and no annoying squealing.

David, Jeff and Blaine worked well together on the stage, fooling around a little bit whilst they sang and danced. Kurt recognised that the harmonies that were in both numbers were the kind of thing that the Warblers would do if they were singing it, which he thought was a nice touch to the performance. He also wondered whether they sang together often in a group because everything between them was so smooth and sleek, and Kurt just couldn't think when they had had the time to practise it all together.

Kurt also thought, as he punched his near-empty cup into the air, that if Dalton had to have a theme tune or anthem that this would be probably be quite a good one. From Kurt's point of view it basically summed up a lot of what Dalton was about; a place where people were accepted for their differences and where everyone was more than just a little bit of a freak, but that was never a bad thing. And, also, when were these boys anything but _loud_?

_Oh shit, my glass is empty_

_That sucks_

Kurt watched in amusement as Blaine upturned his cup, shaking it as nothing came out. He pulled a sad face and then chucked it aside, a wide grin breaking back across his face.

_So if you're too school for cool_

He fixed his tie, wiggling his neck a little bit, and grinned around at all of them, silently making the comment that they were all partying – out of term time – in their _school uniform_!

_And you're treated like a fool_

_You could choose to let it go_

_We can always, we can always party on our own_

Kurt was glad that Blaine seemed to be completely unaffected by what had happened with Sebastian, and he could also have sworn that he saw Blaine look right over at him and send him the smallest of winks.

_So raise your, so raise your glass if you are wrong_

Jeff and David ran forward, with grins on their faces, and lifted Blaine off the ground and onto their shoulders as they broke back out into the chorus. Blaine looked mildly unbalanced for a second, laughing over the sound system, before joining in singing;

_In all the right ways_

_All my underdogs, we will never, never be_

_Anything but loud and nitty gritty, dirty little freaks_

As Kurt danced with Keats he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a sight which made him smile; Trinity leaping up and down in contention with each other, Fred and Drew making weird jerking movements with their arms – like they were doing impressions of malfunctioning robots. Chris and Juri were holding hands and swinging their arms back and forth whilst Morrison spun Lottie around and around as they all laughed.

_So raise your glass if you are wrong_

_In all the right ways_

El and Cat were dancing side by side a little way off from them, moving their arms up and down in the air like they were attempting to rub it in some way, and giggling hysterically – possibly at themselves but also at their boyfriends.

_All my underdogs, we will never, never be_

_Anything but loud and nitty gritty, dirty little freaks_

Ros was swaying Bea from side to side next to Dom, whose wild, curly, hair was bouncing around crazily, had his hands under Al's armpits and was attempting to lift him off the ground.

_Won't you come on and come on and_

_Raise your glass_

Wes was standing behind his girlfriend, left arm around her waist as his right hand curled around her wrist and they pounded their arms into the air, and Daley bobbed around by them, casually rolling his arms around.

_Just come on and come on and_

_Raise your glass_

A little way over on his other side, Kurt had caught of sight of Vince, Stuart, Parker and Andy, who were all moving around rather self-consciously, occasionally prodding one of the others when things got too awkward for them.

_Won't you come on and come on and_

_Raise your glass_

And at the back of the hall by the sound and light control, headphones around his neck, Kurt caught sight of Sebastian, smiling genuinely up at Blaine as he nodded head along to the beat and waved his arm in the air.

_Just come on and come and_

_Raise your glass for me!_

There was a brief moment of silence as everyone finished with one arm in the air, either clutching a plastic cup or with their hand curled around an imaginary one, before they burst into wild, jubilant, cheering. Kurt laughed, feeling exhilarated and getting a definite buzz from the sugar, and collapsed a little against Keats.

"_That's it from us_!" said David as the group took a bow, and Kurt clapped and cheered them. There were loud "_awws_" from the crowd, but they began to take off their microphones, grinning and taking random bows before hopping down.

They were not deprived of music for long, though, because Katy Perry's _Hot N Cold_ began to play. It wasn't quite the same when it came from a CD, and Kurt was more than happy to go over to Keats' friends with him.

"Having fun, Kurt?" asked Parker as he began to take a large camera out of a black bag. Kurt nodded, looking round at the sea of students.

"Yes! It's great! I see you made it after all!" Parker nodded, adjusting the lens on his camer as the other boys nodded and shared smiles.

"If there's one thing Dalton knows how to do," said Stuart, forced to raise his naturally soft voice a lot to be heard over the music. "is go crazy." Kurt snorted at that, nodding in agreement as Stuart pushed his glasses up his sweaty nose.

"Saw you were letting loose out there," said Vince, smirking evilly at Keats. "might have videoed a bit of it for posterity, you know?" Keats glared at his best friend whilst Kurt watched, along with the others, with a smile.

"And Kurt said I was pure evil," he muttered, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "Andy will get rid of it for me." They all stared at him, frowning.

"Who says I want to get rid of it?" asked Andy, laughing slightly. Keats threw a glare in his direction, but didn't respond. Parker tuned to Kurt with an interested expression.

"Why did you say he was pure evil?" Kurt rolled his eyes.

"He threatened me with the Crawford girls if I didn't risk myself on the dance floor with him." The other four all burst out laughing as Kurt shook his head, and Keats rolled his eyes, running a hand through his wavy hair to try and neaten it, but simply succeeding in making it messier.

"Ah," said Vince, shaking his friend. "_that_ is a wickedness to be proud of, Keats, effective blackmail." Keats flicked Vince off with a scowl whilst the others laughed at his expense. Glancing around, Kurt spotted Juri hanging around and looking entirely lost and, muttering that he would be back in a second, Kurt moved over to him.

"Juri," he said, touching his arm. "are you alright?" Juri leapt off the ground and then turned to Kurt with very wide eyes.

"Is it good to be baby-cute?" he asked, and Kurt stared at him, not entirely sure what that sentence meant.

"Come again?" he asked, arching his eyebrow. Juri wrung his hands in a fretful manner.

"Someone said I was cute like baby, is that good?" Kurt hid his laughter at that as he tried to think of something to say.

"Um, I don't know…I suppose so," then it occurred to him, going by his wide eyes and worried face, what had probably just happened. "Juri, did someone just ask you out?" Juri shrugged.

"I don't know!" he exclaimed, wind-milling his arms.

"Run for your life," said Drew, appearing out of nowhere and making them both leap in shock. "You _do not_ want to go out with Lisa; she's mad! I dated for, like, _two days_! She's the clingiest thing that will ever exist – worse than limpets and leeches!" Kurt looked over and saw one of the cheerleaders – it was rather poor of him, but he had never learnt the names of ones he avoided – pushing her way through the crowd whilst staring at Juri with seductive eyes.

"Drew's right," he said, nodding and just _knowing_ that was _not_ the right kind of girl for Juri. "Run, Juri, that is _definitely_ not a good thing!" Juri let out an "_eep_" of fear and dashed into the crowd. The boys watched him go and then looked each other, fighting their laughter. "That probably wasn't a good idea," said Kurt, slowly. "he's likely to be spread eagled on the floor being trampled on." Drew shrugged.

"It's meant to be Fred's job to look after him; keeps him away from things that could go boom!" Kurt snorted at that, looking around the hall.

"Where is he?" Drew shrugged again.

"We – me, Fred and Chris – spread out searching for him. They'll find him eventually." Kurt nodded, and then Drew frowned at him. "Say, why aren't you with Keats?" Kurt shrugged.

"I was, but I saw Juri standing there like a rabbit in the headlights, and I thought I better check up on him." There was a pause in which Drew nodded and then vanished. Kurt had only just managed to blink in surprise when Lisa had appeared before him. Kurt swore inside his head, making a mental note to torture Drew at a later date, and then turned to Lisa with a fake smile. "If you're looking for Juri, I'm afraid that he just went to…get a drink."

"Oh, I don't care where Juri is," Kurt blinked at, getting the feeling that that was not a good thing at all because her eyes were piercing into his, and he was tempted to simply flee back to Keats. However, that would be undignified, and she would probably just follow him.

"Kurt, can I have this dance?" Kurt almost leapt in surprise when his boyfriend appeared behind him, but Lisa's look of shifty annoyance had given him a split second warning. He turned around with grateful smile and nodded.

"Of course," he said. Keats took his hand and immediately pulled him into the crowd until they were completely hidden by bodies on all sides. Keats shot him a disapproving look.

"Are you trying to tell me anything, Kurt?" he asked, and Kurt glowered at him in response, not dignifying that with an answer. Keats chuckled. "I suppose it's my fault for asking out such a beautiful man." Kurt felt himself go scarlet at that, thankful for the relative darkness so that Keats could not see the extent of his blush. Instead he swallowed and arched an eyebrow;

"All of your poetry, and _that_ was the best you could come up with?" Keats smiled at him a little wider.

"Sometimes the beauty is in the simplicity of it all; a long stream of affluent words may shimmer on the air and be like catnip to your aching ears so accustomed to abuse, but at times they may act like smoke to mask a truth or turn an unkindness into a cherished gift, nestled within the very recess of your heart." Keats fell still and pressed his hand over Kurt's beating heart. "The beat of your heart is simple; so must be the words that woo it."

Kurt was utterly lost for words. How could his response to that sound anything other than infantile? He knew that he was blushing heavily, but how could he not? Keats' turn of phrase would be enough to make anybody weak at the knees. He knew, not just how to shape and form words so that they meant more than just being a string of sounds, but also how to deliver it. He knew when to speak fluently, when to breathe, when to pause. He had a gift, not just with words, but of rhetoric too.

Eventually, after they'd stood still for a rather long whilst, and Kurt had still not found anything to say to Keats, Keats reached up with his other hand – his right was still pressed over Kurt's hand – and gently caressed Kurt's cheek, sending shivers down his spine. His grey eyes had an intensity hidden behind the calmness.

"You of all people, Kurt, should know that they we are not bound to simply talking through words." Kurt stared at him for one second longer; carefully detailing into his memory the way one strand of hair fell across his forehead and hung over his eye and the way that his tie was marginally crooked and his clothes were rumpled, before he stepped forward, almost closing the distance between them. Keats' breath was very warm against his skin.

"You're right; my actions can speak far louder than your words." Keats' mouth turned up into a smile that Kurt memorised, drawing out the moment until their lips met for as long as he possibly could. The way Keats' arm was trapped between their bodies, still pressed over Kurt's wildly beating heart, ought to have been uncomfortable, but Kurt couldn't care less. He could only care about the feel of the Keats' lips against his own, the way their noses brushed and how Keats' free hand ran all the way down to his waist like he was mapping it out.

* * *

Blaine's head felt a little bit fuzzy. The music was too loud and the lighting flickered far too much for his liking. He was halfway to turning it off when Thad caught his hand. His chaperone glared at him, telling him that it was unwise to risk death for messing with it, and he sighed. He sighed and pouted. Thad seized him by the shoulders and began to lead him back down towards the main space. Blaine picked up a red cup and tasted the beer, swallowing it down eagerly.

He felt utterly miserable. He was almost one hundred per cent sure that Sebastian was purposely ignoring him, which meant that he couldn't speak to him which meant they couldn't make up which meant that Blaine didn't get to kiss Sebastian at midnight as the fireworks exploded into the air; that _wasn't fair_!

He'd heard enough stories about himself when he got drunk to know that he went through stages, and he wasn't drunk yet – not really. He wanted to get into the tipsy phase. He wanted to be able flirt with random people, maybe he could hook up with someone and that would show Sebastian! _Ha_, how would Sebastian feel if Blaine kissed someone else! Then his lip trembled because maybe Sebastian wouldn't care at all, and he didn't want anyone else.

"Blaine, just drink slowly," said Thad in a very steady voice. Blaine shook his head, shooting him a glare and picking up another drink. Thad huffed, looking at him disapproval but didn't say anything more. Blaine knew that Thad abhorred alcohol, Blaine had not been surprised to find that out, but he didn't like the way he judged him like that. Thad wasn't one for judging, except when it came to alcohol and drugs.

Blaine knew that it was pointless trying to lose him; Thad could be so goddamn dogged it was _unreal_, and so he pushed his way into the crowd very slowly. He kept going, dodging between the girls that squealed at him, until he bumped into someone's midriff. He smiled cheerfully up at Dylan who was blinking down at him.

"Blaine," said Dylan, nodding, and Blaine suddenly found the boy in front of him hilarious. He really wanted to laugh at something, and Dylan was hilariously tall so that would do.

"You're _awesome_, Dyl, you know that?" Dylan rolled his eyes and looked down at him in an amused manner.

"How drunk are you, Blaine?" Blaine shook his head, frowning angrily around at the speakers that were pumping out loud music.

"Not really drunk…Just unhappy and a tiny, _weeny_, bit tipsy! I want to be happy!" He saw Dylan look over his head at Thad and roll his eyes.

"Alright, buddy, let's get you happy. What would make you happy?" Blaine glared up at him because what did he _think_ would make him happy? Dylan rolled his eyes.

"Apart from Sebastian, Blaine," he said, and Blaine had no idea why – he only knew Dylan through fight club – but suddenly Dylan was his favourite person in the world. He supposed that was probably the alcohol influencing him. "how about you go and sing something?" Blaine shook his head because singing was not going to help. Then he saw a red cup and shot over to it.

"Blaine, please stop running off," said Thad as they appeared by his side. "Dylan, you don't have to bother," he added to the gigantic boy who shook his head, furiously.

"Nah, I'm not with anyone so I honestly don't mind." Blaine turned around in time to see Thad shot him a look that said he might regret that statement.

"You're so mean!" he said, pouting at Thad again. Thad titled his head to the side, giving him a patronising look. Blaine didn't really know what to say to that; Thad found it easy to make silence.

"Come on, Blaine, how about we just try and dance and forget about things." Blaine looked up at Dylan and tried to imagine dancing with the tall guy. Then he decided that it would be a very funny idea and funny was really, really, good.

"Let's dance!" he yelled, grabbing Dylan's hand. He heard Thad groan out loud whilst Dylan began to laugh at Blaine. Dylan spun him around easily, and Blaine saw the whole world blur before him. It made him laugh, though the spinning feeling in his head remained. Then he saw Thad's disapproving face, like he thought Blaine ought to be chasing down Sebastian and not dancing with Dylan, but why should he take Thad's advice.

"Blaine, I don't know what's up with you but getting drunk and trying to forget isn't going to help you?" he rolled his eyes because was _everyone_ going to preach at him?

"Dylan…" he mumbled, somewhere between a resigned mutter and a groan.

"No, I'm serious, Blaine," he said, and Blaine looked up into his eyes. Dylan's eyes were quite serious, which was a bit odd because he knew that Dylan had been drinking and he normally smiled, so he let his smile fade and stared at him. "look, you're a good friend – very dear to me – and you've been ridiculously happy since you've been with Sebastian; _chase him_! We _all_ know you're the only one he wants; hours of creepily staring at you in the gym has to count for something, right?"

Blaine wanted to say something back at him, but he could only think of laughing. Dylan spun him round a couple of times, and he felt really dizzy and kind of sick so he managed to come to a stop. He looked around for another drink, and Dylan, telling him that he disapproved, got them both one. He looked over at Thad who had his hands in his pockets and was staring at him. He took it with a grin.

"He didn't stare at me creepily," he denied, feeling stupid and very fuzzy headed. He wanted to become tipsy. He wanted to flirt. He wanted to do something stupid.

"You're kidding me, right?" exclaimed Dylan, grinning at Blaine like he was an idiot. Blaine got that look a lot so he simply looked around at Nick in a giggling group of girls, Flint moodily sipping from a blue cup, David with his arms around his girlfriend and Jeff pressing Cat into a wall. Thad was still glaring at Blaine.

"I'm always kidding," he said, lopsided grin in place. Dylan shook his head at him, expression saying that he was humouring him.

"Blaine, that guy would sit on a bench and watch you pound a bag or someone else _three times a week_! He would _drool_ over you when you got your shirt off and flexed your muscles and sweat." He rolled his eyes, and Blaine hated him in that moment for being so casual about it all like it didn't really matter, but it mattered to Blaine because what if Blaine was just an object that Sebastian wanted.

"Let's go over to Flint," he said and dragged him over to Flint because he didn't want to think about Sebastian right now. He heard Dylan chuckle at him and obediently trailing him to Flint. Flint brightened at the sight of them.

"Hey guys, you spoken to Sebastian, Blaine?" Blaine glared at him because why did everyone _just keeping talking about Sebastian_? It wasn't like Blaine's whole existence rested on him being Sebastian's boyfriend.

"No!" he said, glaring at Flint. Flint held up his hands and then rubbed his back.

"Alright, buddy, just don't do anything stupid." Blaine smiled goofily at Flint.

"That's what I have Thad for," he said, unable to stop grinning. "Thad is my all-purpose sense-machine, and he's less annoying and sarcastic than Bastian." Flint rolled his eyes and looked over at Thad. Blaine twisted around to see that Thad's expression was one of resigned exasperation.

"Yesss, that appears to be my job," Blaine grinned at him, wonkily, and opened his arms, wrapping Thad in a tight embrace. He guessed that Thad was rolling his eyes, but he still got an affectionate pat on the back all the same.

"Come on, Blainey," said Flint, prising him off Thad because Blaine could hear Thad gasping for breath, but it was kind of fun to squeeze him because he was weirdly thin and muscly. "let's not kill your "_all-purpose sense-machine_", then what would you do?" Blaine laughed at that because Thad was really strong and he could easily make Blaine stop – Thad liked Blaine.

"I'd have to buy a new one; I could use you, Flint." Flint shook his head, rubbing Blaine's shoulder in amusement.

"I don't think I could agree to that, Blainey, I've got my work cut out keeping Nick and Jeff in line, and-" he broke off, looking round to see that Nick was still hidden in the middle of a group of girls who were all laughing uproariously. "-they're fine, but I think a couple more drinks that might not be the case; same to you, Blainey…"

"Why are you calling me that? I'm not a baby!" The other three all burst out laughing.

"No, you're right," said Dylan. "you're a _drunk_ baby!" Blaine glared at him before breaking out into laughter along with the others. He was feeling much lighter and happier. He'd also had more to drink which was nice.

"Let's loosen Thad up, how does that sound?" Thad's eyes went wide as Blaine cheered because that sounded like a lot of fun. Flint and Dylan shared evil looks. They grabbed Thad's hands and pulled him into the crowd. Blaine grabbed his arm and began to jump and down. Dylan let go of Thad to watch, crossing his arms, as the sober Flint and the slightly-drunk Blaine attempt to get Thad to go crazy.

Blaine felt really giddy, and he shook Thad's shoulders. Thad was trying to fight them both, staying very tense and tight, but Flint was breaking down into laughter at Thad's pained expression, like he couldn't imagine a worse kind of torture than being made to dance in a way that wasn't in anyway artistic or choreographed. Blaine knew that Thad didn't like dancing with him because Blaine had a bad habit of kicking him in the shins; Blaine had managed to do that three times already which was kind of funny in a not-so-funny kind of way that was funny to him.

"Thad, you need to laugh some; it's making me sad!" Thad rolled his eyes, but managed a tiny smile before rolling his eyes and smiling properly at Blaine. Blaine began to laugh at that because it was funny. Everyone was kind of hilarious to Blaine. Dylan broke down into chuckles and pulled Flint away from the leaping up and down.

Blaine looked around and caught sight of Sebastian staring at them. He felt his smile freeze on his face, a feeling of horror cutting through the warm fuzziness that alcohol was bringing him. Sebastian was just staring at him, though. His eyes were fixed right on him like he was the most beautiful, _amazing_, thing that had ever existed.

"Blaine?" he heard Thad's concerned voice and immediately looked away from Sebastian because it was making him uncomfortable. He didn't know why. He let go of Thad and walked over, suddenly craving alcohol. He heard Thad trail him, dogged in his mission to not let Blaine do anything stupid, and he picked up the nearest red cup.

"Just go over and talk to him," said Flint, appearing by his shoulder. He knew that Dylan was probably hanging back with the presence of mind to not get involved too deeply. He shook his head, furiously, feeling sick.

"No," he said, resolutely. "I'm just an object." He choked out. He felt Flint's hand come to squeeze shoulder whilst Thad poked him, saying that, in the middle of a party, he was still ready to listen to Blaine's many problems. Flint held onto his shoulder a little bit longer. He heard Thad's breath hitch.

"Kurt was right," he said, though. "we want you – not because you look good or sing well – but because you're a nice person, through and through."

"Thad's right; even if you are just an object to him, which is wrong because he _does_ love you, than you're not to us. We love you just the way that you are; you may have been battered and bruised, but that doesn't meant that you're just an object to be passed around and used – you're one of our best friends. Try and give Kurt his Christmas present, eh?" Blaine sniffed and took another drink.

"Alright," he said, looking for another drink because he did not want to hurt in the way that he was. He just needed to forget. He needed some peace and rest bite.

* * *

_This is party is really fun. I've been dodging the Crawford girls whilst dancing with Keats. He may not be able to dance in another way then when his arms around my waist, but that doesn't matter much to me at all. He's had a little bit to drink, but he's not drunk at all – neither are his friends. I'm not sure who let Juri drink, but him and Trinity are running around screaming. Chris is in hysterics. Drew is now flirting with Lisa – I think he's too drunk to notice who it is – and Fred has been handcuffed to something when he nearly touched the controls. I don't want to know why Sebastian carries handcuffs around with him…_

Kurt was wondering around backstage, getting some fresh air whilst Keats talked to his friends. The loud noise was giving him a mild headache, but he had assured the others that he simply needed a couple of minutes to get clear his head and inhale some air that wasn't incredibly stale and stank with alcohol and sweat.

He could hear some clattering coming from one of the green rooms and looked over to it. With a frown on his face, he made his way over. Peering in, he saw that Blaine was fiddling around with a CD player. Walking in, curiously, he cleared his throat to announce his presence.

"Blaine?" Blaine seemed to jump in shock and turned around in a slightly unsteady manner. Just from his gait; sloppy and loose, Kurt could tell that he was relatively drunk. His face lit up with a wonky, goofy, happy, smile.

"_Kurt_!" he exclaimed, raising his hand to wave at Kurt, stupid grin on his face. Looking around at the random mess of costumes, props and instrument cases, Kurt stepped further into the room as Blaine went back to fiddling with the CD player.

"Are you alright, Blaine?" he asked, not really sure which of the phases that had been described to him earlier Blaine was in. Blaine turned around to smile at him dopily again.

"Oh, I'm great, Kurt!" he slurred in a content manner. "You look great; I mean, you always look great, but now you look like _super great_, you know?" Kurt blinked, flushing a little bit at his compliment, even though it was hardly in a very flattering form.

"Thank you," he said, politely, because it was a little strange that Blaine was in here on his own.

"You've got a nice flush; you look pretty in pink." Kurt blinked, not really sure what that was meant to mean. He blinked again and shook his head.

"Um, thank you," he repeated, again. "are you sure that you're alright?" Blaine grinned at him, somehow it got even wider, and nodded enthusiastically.

"I'm wonderful, Kurt! Wonderful like you," Kurt guessed that he was somewhere in the tipsy-flirty-babbling stage of his drunkenness. He shuffled forwards and leant in, a conspiratorial smirk on his face. Kurt leant in too, confused but also a little amused at Blaine as well, and waited for him to reveal whatever his big secret was. "I'm running from Thad!" he said, nodding to himself with a grin. Kurt nodded, slowly, leaning backwards.

"Okay…" he searched for something to say, but Blaine got there first, dragging Kurt further into the middle of his room and stumbling over his own feet.

"I want to sing with you! I found the perfect song!" he said, turning back to the CD player. "I found this amazing duet, it's like wonderful – like you…" he frowned and then grinned again. "I'm repeating myself! You put up with that, that's cool!" Kurt shook his head, not really sure what to say.

"Right…what's the song?" Blaine turned back to him with his eyes alight with excitement and happiness.

"_Baby, It's Cold Outside_!" he exclaimed. Kurt blinked at him in shock, not really sure what to say, though his heart had started beating much faster. _That_ was the perfect duet that he had found for the two of them. He thought back to what they'd told him about Blaine when he was drunk; he didn't really have any inhibitions – he'd asked Sebastian out – so did this mean _anything_ or _nothing_? He swallowed.

"Are you sure, Blaine?" he asked. "Isn't that something you want to sing with Sebastian?" Blaine frowned at him like he wasn't sure what he was talking about. Then he grinned again, stepping forwards.

"I want to sing it with you," he breathed. "You have the perfect voice for it…Your voice is _perfect_." He sounded so utterly sincere that Kurt felt his heartbeat stop. His face heated up. He did not know what to say.

"Um…" he said, looking around the room and thinking that it would be impossible to turn Blaine down as he stared at him with wide, hopeful, eyes. "That sounds great!" Blaine beamed, dashing towards the CD player.

The intro filtered through the small speakers on the player. Kurt took a deep breath, trying to arrange his mind so that it was nice and logical; Blaine was drunk, he thought Kurt had a good voice and he wanted to sing with him – it probably hadn't occurred to him how flirty the duet was. Blaine turned to him expectantly, and he opened his mouth to start singing;

_I really can't stay - But baby it's cold outside_

_I've got to go away - But baby it's cold outside_

Kurt felt a smile – mildly flirtatious, but how could it not be given the song? – spread across his face, hands clasped before him and shoulders hunching into falsely conservative manner. Blaine was leaning against the table that CD player was on, pleading, baleful, puppy dog firmly in place somehow, despite being intoxicated, managing to look effortlessly casual.

_This evening has been - I been hoping that you'd drop in_

_So very nice - I will hold your hands they're just like ice_

Blaine made his way over to Kurt, gait slow and body moving side to side more than was normal, and Kurt drew back slightly, turning his face to his right as he continued to smile. He felt Blaine's hands, very warm compared to Kurt's, encase his. He let them stay like that for a second, not looking right into Blaine's eyes before pulling them away.

_My mother will start to worry - Beautiful what's your hurry?_

_My father will be floor - Listen to the fireplace roar_

He moved off down the room, taking long strides as his hands clasped behind his back, feeling a little bit giddy as he heard Blaine's slightly uneven footsteps follow him. He managed to not look over his shoulder at Blaine even though he _desperately_ wanted to see the look on his face.

_So really I'd better scurry - Beautiful please don't hurry_

_But maybe just half a drink more - Put some records on while I pour_

He glanced around at precisely the wrong moment as he saw Blaine pout slightly, sticking out his bottom lip as his eyes went wide, pressing his hands together in a begging fashion and bending at the knees, wobbling just a little bit. He moved backwards so that they were side by side, wiggling his shoulders, and Blaine grinned dopily at him before spinning around Kurt so that their bodies almost touched.

_The neighbours might faint - Baby it's bad out there_

_Say what's in this drink? - No cabs to be had out there_

Blaine had stumbled slightly and was now leaning against what looked like a chest of drawers, and Kurt moved so that he perched on a stool, opposite, crossing one leg over the other and picking up a wine glass painted gold, examining the empty inside as he deliberately didn't meet Blaine's eyes – partly because of the song, and partly because he was sure he'd melt completely if he looked into Blaine's eyes.

_I wish I knew how - Your eyes are like starlight now_

_To break this spell - I will take your hat your hair looks swell_

He set it down and leaned back, bracing himself against the top of another stool and a box, as Blaine made a frame for Kurt's eyes with his hands, feeling himself blush slightly. He got to his feet, moving away, spinning once as he looked at Blaine who was following him, and came to rest against the back of a tatty sofa.

_I ought to say "no, no sir" - Mind if I move in closer?_

_At least I'm gonna say that I tried - What's the sense in hurting my pride?_

He squeezed his shoulders upwards, making himself smaller, as Blaine shuffled right next to him, pressing right up against him, almost losing his balance, but he regained it in time to stop himself from face-planting into the floor, a self-deprecating smile half showing up on his face.

_I really can't stay - Baby don't hold out_

_Oh but it's cold outside - Baby it's cold outside_

Kurt moved off again, finding a seat on the piano stool and crossing one leg over the other again, resting his hands on his knees. Blaine trailed him, almost tripping and falling several times. Each time he did that the aforementioned half-smile would appear on his face before he went back to looking pleading and desperate. He flipped up the piano lid and stared at the keys.

Kurt watched as Blaine almost played the out of tune piano along to the music, but he couldn't quite coordinate his fingers enough to get the notes right. He smiled at his attempts, though, and realised that the song was strangely accurate for Kurt's situation. He half wanted to leave because he was meant to be with Keats, but at the same time… He was with Blaine, who thought he was perfect and wonderful and wanted to sing with him. He looked at Kurt with _want_ in his eyes, but… He was drunk, intoxicated, and Kurt had no way of knowing how much of this was an act or a desire set free by the presence of alcohol.

_I've got to get home - But baby you'd freeze out there_

_Say, lend me a coat - It's up to your knees out there_

Still, he all but forgot about it as he moved up and away, coming to stand by a harp and what looked like a tuba case, and Blaine came to face him. He just forgot about the slight slur in Blaine's voice and the way he was leaning against the tuba for support as he looked into Blaine's hazel eyes that shimmered with happiness and want.

_You've really be grand - A thrill when you touch my hand_

_But don't you see - How can you do this thing to me?_

He set off again, brushing Blaine's hand as they went past, feeling something tingle in his fingers and wondered whether Blaine had felt that too and whether he'd simply dismiss it as the effects of alcohol. He leant over the back of the other sofa that was in much better condition as he looked at Blaine whose whole body dropped as he looked at Kurt in wounded disbelief.

_There's bound to be talk tomorrow - Think of my long sorrow_

_At least there will be plenty implied - If you got pneumonia and died_

Blaine made his way over in a sloppy fashion, dropping his knees onto the sofa and, because Kurt was still leaning forward, that made them about level. Their faces were very – maybe _too_ – close together, and Kurt could feel his heart beating faster because he could sworn that Blaine's eyes were watching his lips…It would take _nothing_ to kiss him.

_I really can't stay - Get over that hold out_

But he didn't. He shook the idea from his mind – they were both in _serious_ relationships – and moved round the sofa so that him and Blaine, who had picked himself off the cushions, were standing face to face.

_Oh, baby it's cold outside - Oh but it's cold outside_

Blaine's face spread back out into his dopey, goofy, grin, and he grabbed Kurt's hand, pulling them both down onto the sofa, hooking his arm through Kurt's as Kurt crossed his right leg over his left and Blaine did it the opposite way round so that they were shoulder to shoulder with their heads turned inwards.

The two of them giggled when the song ended, Blaine's more like drunken titters than anything else, but Kurt's were because his head was spinning. He had no idea what to make of the situation, but he still felt giddy – if a little sick at the thought of cheating on his boyfriend – and they kept laughing, as another track began to play, until the sound of clapping reached their ears.

Jerking his head round, Kurt saw Thad step into the room, still clapping; slowly enough for it to be a bit off, but not slow enough for it to be sarcastic, with a very even look on his face. Kurt felt colour swoop up his face at that, not sure what to make of his blank face and guarded eyes, and suddenly knew _exactly_ what Keats had meant when he said that Thad was a silence – Kurt had the strongest desire to babble out excuses as to why he had been singing that even though he had no reason too; he just wanted the incredibly awkward and tense silence to end.

"Blaine, how many times have I told you not to run off?" Thad was rubbing his forehead as he stepped closer through the room, and Blaine began to giggle some more, looking like a naughty child.

"Did you have fun searching for me?" Blaine's arm had clamped around Kurt's shoulders, and Kurt felt slightly wary about the situation that he was in; like he might be about to be used in a giant game of tug of war.

"No," grunted out Thad, and he beckoned for Blaine to get up. "Kurt, I think your _boyfriend_ is looking for you." Kurt swallowed slightly at the tone of his voice, suddenly feeling guilty about entertaining thoughts of kissing Blaine and knew that Thad had probably been lurking in the shadows for most of the song.

He got to his feet, detaching himself from Blaine with difficult and handing the suddenly clingy boy over to Thad, remembering what Nick had said about Blaine having a compulsive to desire to sing at some point once he'd started drinking; not your classic drunk-song, and Blaine's voice had only been slightly grated, and guessed that had just been that for Blaine.

He could hear Blaine whining to Thad as he walked away, making his way back into the main hall and stumbling straight into Keats. One look at his face told Kurt that he'd had a little bit more to drink because his facial expression had slackened considerably. Keats went to put an arm around Kurt's shoulders but missed completely, losing his balance, and Kurt caught him, quickly, before he hit the floor. Keats laughed.

"Sorry, Kurt…" he said, words mildly slurred. "My coordination 's shot!" Kurt rolled his eyes, not entirely surprised that that was the first thing to go.

"I would never have guessed," he commented, dryly. Keats squinted at him.

"You know," he said in a sort of mumble that Kurt could only just hear over the sound of P!NK being blasted at full volume. "you remind me of S'bastian…" Kurt felt his face twitch at that because he did not take that as a compliment.

"Great…" he muttered. Keats brandished his finger at him.

"See! Same humour…'s not very funny…" Kurt rolled his eyes as he heaved his boyfriend back towards Parker who was photographing the scenes of mayhem – people gambling with cups, rolling around on the floor, drunkenly shouting and making out – from his seat on an empty table.

"I should have guessed that you'd be a chatty drunk," Parker looked up and grinned at Keats and Kurt.

"He drunk a lot," he said, slowly. "Couldn't find you." Kurt nodded, and then did a double take because he could have sworn that Parker's hearing aids were off.

"Parker, can you hear me?" Parker, whose eyes had not left his face, grinned and shook his head.

"Too loud," he explained, gesturing around the room. "I read lips." Kurt nodded in understanding and deposited Keats into a chair. Keats ruffled up his wavy hair.

"Hey," Andy had come over, supporting Stuart who had his eyes scrunched up as he reached around blindly. Kurt raised an eyebrow and helped sit him on the table next to Parker. Parker curled his arms around his wrist, and Stuart gave him a weak smile.

"What happened?" asked Kurt in concern. Andy sighed.

"Someone took his glasses; they probably think it's funny, but Stuart is literally _blind_ without them – the whole world is just a complete blur." Kurt looked back at the boy who had his other hand covering his eyes, clearly in distress.

"What should we do?" Andy shrugged, looking around the hall with a pained frown on his face before looking back at Parker.

"We just have to look around and see where they are; if you want to help, Kurt?" It was a little disconcerting for Andy to be talking to him whilst looking directly at Parker, but he nodded.

"Yeah, of course I do." Andy shot him a smile. Parker gestured with the hand that held onto his camera.

"I'll look over these two," They both nodded, and Andy patted Stuart's arm as he tried to block out the different noises that were clearly disconcerting him.

"We'll be quick," promised Andy, and Stuart nodded in a miserable fashion. Andy put his arm around Kurt's shoulder as Keats, after clearing his throat and attracting their attention, finally spoke again;

_There once was a man with a key  
__Who wondered who he should be  
__So he pulled out a knife  
__And stabbed out at life  
__Then realised he should never be angry._

Everyone stared at him in shock as he laughed, not sure where that had come from or why he'd felt the need to recite it. Kurt glanced at Andy, asking whether that had really just happened. Andy shook his head, numbly, whilst Parker frowned heavily, looking back at the other two.

"Did I read that right? Did he just-"

"Recite a limerick? Yes, yes he did." Parker glanced at Stuart, who wasn't laughing and had a hand pressed to his forehead. "We should go," muttered Andy, shaking his head in despair. "he's a lost cause; don't let him drink anything." Parker gave him a mock-salute.

"Wait! Wait!" Kurt and Andy, who had just turned around, rolled their eyes and returned to looking at Keats. "That was the wrong one!" he exclaimed, looking worried. He cleared his throat, sitting up straight and taking a deep breath;

_I once had a friend name Stuart Harmon  
__Who was unfortunately not a starman  
He lost his glasses  
__And failed his classes  
And so found work as a barman_

Kurt rolled his eyes as Keats laughed at his own poetry, and Stuart let out a frustrated growl. Looking at Andy, who was pinching the bridge of his nose, he guessed that he had heard that particular limerick before.

"Let's just go," he called, and Kurt nodded, leaving as Keats began to recite yet another rhyme to Parker and Stuart.

Andy kept a relatively firm hold of Kurt's wrist as they made their way around the hall, through the pulsating bodies and giggling masses, for some reason that only became clear after they'd had several incidents of people leaping on them. Andy was very uncomfortable in large, loud, unpredictable crowds, if his pale face was anything to go by, so Kurt patted his back and gave him an encouraging smile.

It was about as hard to find the glasses as Kurt had anticipated. Andy looked like he would have a panic attack any second, but he refused to take a break until Stuart got his glasses back – he explained that he could do some damage to his eyes – which Kurt had to admit was very nice, but after Trinity had leapt on them, it took Andy a whole _minute_ to stop yelling and another five to get his breathing under control.

Also, the clock was ticking ever closer to midnight, and the sober Seniors were beginning to herd people outside for the fireworks display so it was very hard to keep track of where they had looked and who they had searched. Anyone sober that they spoke to had agreed to keep an eye out for them, but no one had even seen them, and, as Kurt took in the trashed state of the hall when it had half emptied, he reckoned it would take a miracle to get them back to Stuart in a state that was anything less than mangled.

"This is _hopeless_!" exclaimed Andy, poking his toe through a mess of cups, tissues, streamers and confetti. Kurt turned to him with a frown, noting that he looked a lot better now that most people had gone outside.

"Doesn't he have a spare pair?" Andy shook his head, biting the inside of his lip.

"Well, he _did_…" he said, trailing off hesitantly, suddenly looking incredibly nervous. Kurt frowned, looking around.

"What is it?" Andy shook his head, absent-mindedly messing up his hair. He glanced around, gaze flicking over to where Parker and Stuart sat. Then Kurt frowned. "Where's Keats?"

"Behind you," came the hoarse reply, and Kurt spun around to see Keats smirking at them. "I take it your search has been fruitless." They nodded.

"Why doesn't Stuart have a spare pair of glasses?" he asked, and Keats' spine straightened. He glanced around.

"He had an argument with his father, and he _slipped_…Nothing too serious it _happens all the time_, but the glasses he had on his _nose broke_. We _took_ it _away_ to be _fixed_." Kurt felt a feeling of nausea rise up inside of him at that, looking over at Stuart again. Andy was nervously looking around, like he was scared they'd be overheard. Keats fixed a serious look upon Kurt. _"You can't do anything_ about that sort of thing – they're just _accidents_." He took a deep breath.

"It happens all the time?" he repeated, and Keats nodded, grey eyes turning into storm clouds. Kurt found his eyes flitting back to Stuart as he never would have guessed just from looking at him, but something that Keats had said came floating back to him;

_"…eighty per cent of the people at Dalton come from high pressurised kind of homes, where grades are **everything**_**,** _and __basically __**nothing**__ is good enough. That's the case for me, Andy, and Stuart."…_

"Are you guys okay?" They all jumped, looking around wildly to see Daley, red hair very messy, staring at them in mild concern. Keats' face became a mask whilst Andy swallowed and straightened up. Kurt guessed that neither of them were comfortable in his presence, so said;

"Yes, we just need to find Stuart's glasses; they're his only pair, and someone took them." Daley looked around at Stuart, nodding in understanding, frowning.

"Do they have wire frames?" he asked, slowly. Kurt, sparing a half glance at Keats, nodded. Daley pulled a face. "I know where they are." Keats frowned, suspiciously, at him.

"Where?" Daley bit his bottom lip.

"They were rather mangled in one of the bin bags." Keats arched his eyebrow.

"You _threw away_ someone's glasses?" he demanded. Kurt was definitely picking up on a very strange air around the three of them; Andy was looking away, Keats looked like he was biting down something and Daley looked mildly uncomfortable.

"No, I took them out. They're over there, but they're _really_ destroyed." He beckoned them to follow him, and they trailed him over to the controls for the sound and lights. He picked up the wire frames that had been flattened out and the thick lenses were cracked. Keats rubbed his head and swallowed, heavily.

"Well, shit," muttered Andy. Daley looked around and then up at the clock.

"Yeah, well, five minutes, guys…you might want to head out." He shifted from foot to foot and walked away. Keats handed the mangled glasses to Andy.

"What do you think?" Andy stared at him in disbelief.

"I might be able to bend it around, but…he needs a new pair." Keats bit down on the inside of his bottom lip, and Kurt looked between them because he could sense the heaviness that hung between the two of them.

"Alright, I'll go into town tomorrow." Andy frowned up at him.

"Are you sure? Remember what happened the _last_ time you paid for something for us." Keats waved it away.

"He'll go blind, Andy, and we need it done now, not in three weeks once Parker's parents have worked out that – if they can afford to send Parker to Dalton – they can afford a pair of _fucking glasses_." Andy pulled a face, testing the pliability of the frames.

"Alright, you two head out." Kurt frowned up at Keats as Andy wandered over to the other two. Keats let out a short huff before taking Kurt's hand and leading him towards the door to the grounds. Picking up their coats from the mound, Kurt tried to find something to say.

"I'm sorry, you had to find out about that tonight," said Keats in a soft voice as they stepped outside. Kurt shrugged, shaking his head.

"Has been happening for long?" Keats bit down on the inside of his lip, looking around the grounds in a pointed manner, posture scarily stiff.

"Since I came out," he replied, shortly. Kurt let out a soft sigh at that, understanding that Keats felt guilty about the situation.

"And you're sure that there's nothing you can?" Keats turned to Kurt with an eyebrow that was arched.

"When we made friends with Stuart, me and Vince were _seven_. His parents ran a bar, and they were struggling, but they share very similar views to my dad; he got the business back on their feet in return for doing whatever favours he needs doing…Now, remember how powerful my dad is? Nothing would happen, except it would get worse." Kurt bit down on the inside of his lip, feeling very angry as he watched Stuart come out of hall, destroyed glasses balanced on his nose and being supported between Andy and Parker.

Kurt felt himself smile, despite his feelings of anger, at the sight. Keats' friends were always a little edgy; they were nowhere near as affectionate or crazy as the Warblers and the others, but Kurt could _see_ how much they cared about each other from the little things that they did; the way that Stuart looked completely calm about only being able to half see through a cracked lens because his friends held him up so he felt safe.

"Three minutes," said Keats, glancing down at his watch. Kurt smiled and scanned the crowds; he could see Blaine slumped against Thad as he stood next to Flint who had a firm grip on Nick. Jeff and Cat were both lying on the grass as David and El stood over them. Fred had an around Juri whilst Chris laughed with Bea and Ros whilst Drew slumped against him. Trinity were bouncing up and down uncontrollably, and Morrison had his arms wrapped Lottie and his chin rested on his shoulder. Vince had made his way, drunkenly, over to Keats' other friends. He couldn't see Wes anywhere, but he could just about make out Sebastian some distance away.

"Any New Year's resolutions?" he asked, turning to Keats. Keats pinched up his face in thought.

"I will do _anything_ to make you happy," Kurt arched his eyebrow at that.

"Should I be flattered or insulted that you wouldn't do that already?" Keats laughed, briefly, before fixing Kurt with that same intense yet calm look.

"I mean, that I would _anything_ to make you happy – I wouldn't just try my best, or do everything my power; I'd do _anything_." Kurt felt himself go a little bit red at that, looking down at that grass.

"That sounds more like a promise than a resolution, but I like it; I think you should keep it." Keats smiled.

"Yes, I will."

* * *

"Sebastian," Sebastian didn't jump as Daley crept up on him instead choosing to roll his eyes.

"Daley, what is it?" Daley glared at the back of his best friend's head.

"You should go find Blaine; let me handle this." Sebastian shook his head, glancing at the boys controlling the fireworks who nodded at him to say that it was all under control.

"No, I'm fine. Besides, it's not my fault that Blaine is an idiot who constantly overreacts." Daley glared at him again. Sebastian stared, calmly, back at him. Then he rolled his eyes. "Daley, I'll talk to him tomorrow when he isn't smashed." Daley let out a sigh, rubbing a hand across his forehead in an exasperated manner.

"Bastian, I'm not _asking_ you to do this. I'm _ordering_ you." Sebastian snorted.

"Right, and why do you think that I would listen to you?" Daley stared back at him, fighting to keep the cool expression on his face.

"Because you're too scared to lose him and too scared to hold onto him for fear of what will happen if you lose him; I know you could never cope, but neither could he – he's _suffering_." He snatched the microphone from Sebastian and checked his watch. "Just over a minute; _go_." Sebastian stared at him for all of five seconds before he dashed off. Daley watched him with a satisfied smirk, beginning the countdown.

"_Fifty-nine_!"

Sebastian hit the ground running, pushing his way through the crowds he looked left and right for a sign of Blaine, cursing the fact that he was not with Dylan anymore because he stood out a mile. He had no idea why he was even panicking so much; what the hell was Blaine going to do apart from mope about the fact that he didn't get a kiss from Sebastian?

"_Forty-five_!"

Except Sebastian knew Blaine far too well to think that he would _just_ do that. Blaine's mind had a habit of tricking him into a downward spiral that destroyed any fragile sense of self-esteem that he had managed to built, and he would end up like the mess that he had been when he first arrived at Dalton; and it was Sebastian's job to stop that from happening, whether or not he was emotionally attached.

"_Thirty_!"

He spotted Ros and made a dash for her, pushing his way through the crowds because even if Blaine wasn't with her then she was relatively likely to know where he was. Fuck it all, if Sebastian did not know what to do about Blaine; he had this nasty habit of ending up in near-death situations, which just made Sebastian want to vomit, but he was stupid, they both were, and Sebastian _couldn't_ have thought that ignoring Blaine's question was a good idea.

"_Twenty_!"

But Sebastian had beent trying to figure out if there was a way for him to make sure that Blaine did not end up in some body bag, whether by his own hand and or the hand of some psychopath, and the whole thing had been so _pointless_ and _ridiculous_ because they _had been through this_, but, Sebastian registered as he spotted Blaine and crashed to a halt in front of him, snatching his face between his hands, Blaine had every reason to doubt him.

"_Ten_!"

"Blaine, you have to listen to me-"

"_Nine_!"

"-this is very important!"

"_Eight_!"

"I haven't been with anyone-"

"_Seven_!"

"-since the Keats fiasco!"

"_Six_!"

"I've been waiting for you!"

"_Five_!"

"I'd live the rest of my life in celibacy-"

"_Four_!"

"-if it meant being with _you_!"

"_Three_!"

"And I'm sorry!"

"_Two_!"

"I can't lose you!"

"_One_!"

"I love you!"

The first fireworks exploded into the air with a deafening series of bangs, creating a shimmering mass of reds, blues and golds that shone in the night heavens as they fell to earth like a thousand shooting stars, fizzling into nothing.

Keats' intensely calm gaze was focused solely on Kurt, who could not look anywhere but into his grey eyes, as he pulled Kurt straight into his gentle embrace and kissed him on the lips.

Blaine, whose eyes had gone very wide, launched himself onto Sebastian, wrapping his arms around the taller boy and sending him stumbling backwards until he hit a wall.

Kurt broke away from Keats after three more loud bangs, focusing his eyes on the sky, face lightening up into a wide smile as tge sky became illuminated by the different colours; green, blue, red, yellow, exploding upwards, arching outwards. Three great roman candles shot into the sky, leaving behind their shimmering trail of white-gold sparks.

Kurt looked around, managing a small smile at the sight of Blaine and Sebastian against the school wall, Juri had been lifted up to sit on Chris and Fred's shoulders, eyes wide as his face glowed. Nick appeared to have grabbed Flint and was enthusiastically kissing him, seemingly unaware of the spectacle going on above their heads whilst Thad kept shooting interchanging looks between them and the fireworks display. Trinity were running around gleefully, waving their arms in the air as they screamed. Morrison and Lottie were sitting on the ground, his arms wrapped around her, whilst Drew lay next to them, hands in chin, staring up at the sky. Ros had her arm around Bea, tucking the smaller girl into her side as they laughed. Jeff and Cat had become a tangle of limbs on the floor, and David kept kissing El as she attempted to watch the fireworks.

_I watch them soar in the night sky  
I wonder if I could soar so high_

_I see them tumble down to earth  
A place I have walked since birth_

_And as they fizz and whizz and bang  
__And in my heart I do feel a pang_

_For how can I watch this night sky  
__Without my lover nearby_

_For only in his warm embrace  
__And as his lips ghost across my face_

_May I see the fireworks shine  
__As long as I know he's mine_

Kurt turned away from the fireworks, tearing his eyes from the glittering array that shimmered and shone above them and looked into Keats' eyes that had all the different sparks and stars reflected in them. He curved easy lips into an easy smile.

"Did you make that up just now?" he asked, softly, though no one around them would hear them as they "_ohhed_" and "_ahhed_" and laughed over the explosions. Keats gave him a soft smile.

"Have I not mentioned that you are my muse?" he asked, innocently, and Kurt blushed red as he rolled his eyes. "You're my Callipoe, my Erato and my Euterpe, all in one." Kurt stared straight back into Keats' grey eyes, utterly mesmerised and noted that the other sounds seemed to have faded into the background.

"Would it ruin the moment if I confessed that I didn't know who those people are?" he asked, and Keats seemed to consider it.

"Maybe it would be better if you just say nothing at all," Kurt had barely managed to nod before Keats' lips had sealed over his.

The fireworks exploded and crowned them all with a shower of golden sparks; hailing in the start of another year – giving the promise out that something good was to come.

* * *

**Next Time- Budding Shoots: A new term begins at Dalton Academy, and, somewhere between chasing a coveted Warbler lead and orientating a new student, Kurt embarks on his first date with Keats whilst Blaine and Sebastian discover that just because they know everything about someone doesn't mean they have anything to talk about…**


	16. Budding Shoots

_**Dear readers,**_

_**I am so sorry that it took me this long to update; I really am. I just- I started writing, and I knew it would take ages, but I never pictured it would take this long, and then midway through I lost some of it, and I couldn't bring myself to re-write it so I put it off for, like, a month. Either way, I've just finished this, like, today, and given how long my chapters are I hope you can understand how long it takes to write this, and my brain is offcially dead from trying to edit 110 pages (I'm not even joking) so if there are any mistakes (especially, towards the end) than I seriously apologise. Also, I thought this chapter was going to be mainly focused on the dates, but my brain didn't seem to like that idea so...well...you'll see when you read the chapter. **_

_**On another note, we are now about halfway through the story; in my head there are about 31-32 chapters (including the epilgoue), and I was working out whether I was going to combine them, but then I lost some of the stuff so I haven't decided yet. I've written quite a bit of the ending chapters, and I have a clearer plan in my head than I do for these chapters, so (fingers crossed) it should be quicker when we get closer to the end, but I don't really know how true that statement is so please don't hold me to that. However, I reckon the chapters are probably going to be about this length so there is a lot left...a lot. **_

_**Either way, I have my GCSEs now (they literally start tomorrow) and so I won't be writing properly for a month and a half - I think - which means that I won't be updating, realistically, till July. I'm sorry about that. I hope you enjoy this chapter!**_

_**Sopphires.**_

* * *

**The Scholarship**

**Episode 16: Budding Shoots**

_The night wound up very quickly after the half-hour firework display came to an end. Then we all joined hands and sang – some people __**very**__ drunkenly – 'Auld Lang Syne'. After that, Keats insisted on walking me back to Franklin where we would have spent some time kissing if not for the appearance of a very drunk/hyper Daniel and Juri, and, according to Chris, it was my job to get my roommate back into our room which cut short anymore romantic activities. I crashed out not long after getting Juri into bed when I felt __**incredibly**__ fatigued._

Kurt woke up to the sound of crashing and banging. He peeled his eyes open, feeling fuzzy headed, and prised his face away from the pillow with some difficulty. Looking around, he saw that Juri was still passed out in his bed. Kurt groaned, rolling onto his front, and questioned the sanity of whoever was making banging noises at this time of the morning. Knowing that he would never get back to sleep, he threw off the covers and reached for his dressing gown. Yawning widely, he opened the door and saw that Daniel was bouncing up and down, smashing two pots together.

"Daniel, what the _hell_ are you _doing_?" he demanded, groggily, and Daniel beamed at him, slamming the two pots together again.

"Good afternoon!" he said in a manner that was far too chipper for someone that had gotten smashed last night. Kurt rubbed a hand across his forehead, silently thankful that he hadn't drunk anything. "It's time for lunch!"

"Daniel…" grumbled Daley, the door next to Sebastian's room swinging open as his bird's nest of hair appeared. "You do realise that Sebastian will have you hung-drawn-and-quartered for this, right?" Daniel just grinned and smashed the pots together. Over his shoulder, he saw Braden and Chris put their fingers to their lips as they crept up on Daniel. Daniel grinned in an evil manner.

"Sebastian's not here!" he said in a delighted, sing-song, voice. "He went to assess the damage that we did to the hall!" Daley groaned as Daniel slammed the pots together again. Kurt pulled a pained face as several more doors swung open and angry heads poked out.

"Why aren't you hung over?" he demanded as Chris and Braden took several more steps forward, and Chris grabbed Daniel around the middle, lifting him off the ground, whilst Braden snatched the pots from his flailing arms.

"_Noooo_!" cried the boy, choosing not to reply to Kurt, and Thad, with eyes that weren't entirely open, stumbled from his and Blaine's room to relieve Chris of Daniel and threw the screaming, flailing, boy into one of the other rooms (Kurt guessed it was empty), slamming the door shut. Kurt scratched his head as everyone moved away like that was the most normal thing that had ever happened.

"What time is it?" demanded Chris, scrunching up his face and looking around. Kurt, who didn't have a watch on, shrugged as Daley, meandering over to them, yawned widely.

"I think it's about half one," he said, rubbing his eyes which had become watery after he'd yawned. Thad also rubbed his eyes, blinking in an owlish fashion. Daley snorted at the expression on his face.

"Are you going to let him out?" Thad shrugged, yawning widely. Chris rolled his eyes.

"We'll give him some time to calm down." Kurt looked between them all and got the impression that this was something that they did on a yearly basis. He shrugged and shook his head slightly because it was Dalton and Daniel – weird things were simply going to happen there.

Going back into his room, he saw that Juri was completely dead to the world and so took a leisurely shower, attempting to wash away the feeling of grogginess that was hanging over him. He could not imagine how those that had drunk were dealing with it because he felt like someone had bludgeoned him with a sledgehammer and left him with a mild concussion, and he was only _tired_, and hung over from an incredible sugar high.

He ended up spending an _hour_ showering, moisturising and waiting for himself to feel clean again. He found that he did feel less like his skin was crawling, but he was hungry. He hadn't eaten in a very long time and so was dying for some proper food. He wanted something warm to fill him up, and then he wanted to rest. He wanted to close his eyes and to regain some of his lost energy.

Juri was still sleeping at half two, and Kurt pulled off Juri's shoes and tucked him up in bed, giving him a small smile before he left the room. He closed the door quietly and looked up and down the hallway. Letting out a sigh, he moved to the room that Daniel had been thrust into and opened the door. It was empty, which was unsurprising because it would be cruel to lock someone up for an hour.

Scratching his head and yawning, he made his way downstairs into the kitchen. One look in told him that his friends weren't there, and he was quickly directed to the dining room and was told to look for the most raucous table, which he could only assume meant that all his friends dealt with hangovers well. He wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, though, because he wasn't entirely sure that he could deal with their level of hyperactivity when he was this tired.

The main building was relatively empty, only a couple of dozy students stumbling around in search of food or their friends. Kurt either gave them friendly greetings or pointed them in the direction of the dining room. Some people nodded in return or blinked in a tired fashion that said that they were too tired to comprehend what was going on.

When he reached the dining room one glance in told him exactly where his friends were. Simply looking at the table told him that this was not going to be a quiet meal as they were laughing, loudly, over their meals, but he found himself smiling at that because, whilst it would certainly help him for there to be quiet, he wasn't sure that he wanted it.

He got some soup from Stacey, who was smiling at him in a knowing manner despite the fact that he hadn't been drinking, and collected himself several rolls of bread before hurrying over to his friends' table and listened in to what Nick was saying as he sat down by Fred's shoulder.

"…man, I wish I could remember what had happened!" The others laughed as Nick shook his head, face screwed up in thought. "It's just a big blur!" He dropped his head into his hands as most of them continued to laugh whilst Flint pulled a face.

"Do _you_ remember everything, Blaine?" asked Flint, diverting the conversation from Nick, who was smacking his forehead, and Blaine flushed scarlet.

"Um, no…" admitted Blaine, and Kurt looked over in interest because he had seen that Blaine and Sebastian made up, but obviously he did not know the details…and he was _very_ interested in those.

"Though that didn't stop you from getting into bed with him," said Morrison, winking in a suggestive manner. Blaine groaned as Kurt choked on some of his bread roll. The others looked somewhere between shocked and amused.

"_Please_ tell me that he didn't sleep with you!" begged Jeff. "because I _will_ have to murder him for taking advantage of you whilst you're drunk and highly suggestible." Blaine went an even darker shade of crimson whilst the others laughed at his expense. Kurt was stuck somewhere between amused and filled with dread because, despite having helped Sebastian and Blaine's relationship, he would rather that Blaine was still a virgin.

"No," said Blaine in a very forceful tone of voice. "Sebastian would _never_ do that to me…Besides, he would consider it a waste if we did it, and I didn't remember." There was a mildly awkward pause after that, everyone hiding smiles, even Kurt, because they were all picturing _that_ conversation between Sebastian and Blaine.

"Okay…" said David, shuddering and rubbing a hand across his forehead. "What did Sebastian say?" There was a pause in which all the boys that had been sober – except Kurt – exchanged looks. Eventually, Flint broke out into a devilish grin and looked at Blaine with amusement in his eyes.

"Well, Sebastian came dashing over whilst Daley was doing the countdown, and he gave you this very heart-warming-"

"-sickeningly sweet-" imputed Fred, popping a sausage roll into his mouth, and Kurt blinked in surprise because he had thought that Fred had gotten drunk.

"You were sober?" he questioned, and every eye swivelled to him. Fred rolled his eyes.

"Um, yeah… I mean, I _was_ drunk, but I kind of sobered up after I was handcuffed to something." There were chuckles and snorts, and Kurt could see Nick opening his mouth, clearly wanting to demand what had happened, but he was glared at by David, who clearly wanted to know what had happened between Sebastian and Blaine. Nick huffed and folded his arms whilst the rest of them laughed.

"-thank you, David; _speech_." Flint swallowed, clearing his throat, and sat up straight. Kurt could feel an easy smile curve onto his face as they all leaned in in anticipation. "He said, and I'm quoting; "_Blaine, you have to listen to me this is very important! I haven't been with anyone since the Keats fiasco! I've been waiting for you! I'd live the rest of my life in celibacy if it meant being with you! And I'm sorry! I can't lose you! I love you!_" and then you stared at him with wide eyes before leaping at him and kissing the living daylights out of him…I genuinely thought you'd get it on right there."

There were chokes and snorts after that, Kurt swallowing and trying to rid himself of the image that had been conjured up in his mind's eye. Blaine buried his head in his hands, letting them fall onto the table as he groaned very loudly. The rest laughed at his expense, but they also shared knowing looks that were fond and pleased at what Sebastian had said.

Kurt had to admit that he, himself, was torn between smiling in a dopey manner at how _cute_ – and, yes, he was using that word to describe Sebastian – Sebastian could be, or allowing his mouth to twist into an unattractive shape because he was jealous of what Sebastian had said and was annoyed that he was such a strangely good boyfriend at times…Kurt supposed that he couldn't change the fact that Sebastian knew, and understood, Blaine far more than Kurt ever could or would.

"Do any of you know who I kissed?" demanded Nick, suddenly, breaking through the silence that had taken over the table as people ate and snorted at memories of last night. Kurt frowned, attempting to remember because he'd seen it but he couldn't quite put his finger on it, and then stopped as the others exchanged looks and then shook their heads.

"No…" said Flint, slowly, biting down on his lip, and Kurt blinked because he was sure that Flint had been right next to Nick, hadn't he?

"Damnit!" exclaimed Nick, slamming his hand down onto the table as he scowled. "I don't remember who it was, but it was the best kiss of my life!" Kurt blinked some more at that, looking at Nick in surprise whilst the others smothered smirks and laughter.

Then, suddenly and accompanied by a large scraping noise, Flint got up from the table. There was a pause in which he stared at the table, face and posture very tense, before he turned on his heel and marched from the hall. There was a shocked silence after that, Kurt's eyebrow raising in shock because he did not understand why Flint had just walked out.

"Who did he kiss?" asked Nick, curiously, and Kurt blinked a little bit more, memories slotting back together now that he was more awake, because hadn't Nick and Flint kissed _each other_? _Yes_, Nick had grabbed Flint and kissed him…Well that made sense; Nick had been so smashed that he'd grabbed the person nearest to him and kissed them, not realising that it was Flint and now they didn't want to tell him because _that_ would be awkward, except Nick had called it the best kiss of his life…

"I better go," said Blaine, ignoring Nick's question like everyone else and sighing heavily as he pushed himself to his feet. "Don't do anything stupid," he added, and Kurt snorted at that along with a good many other boys.

"Who did he kiss?" whined Nick, once they'd watched Blaine walk out of the dining room, as he smashed his hand into the table, pouting at them in annoyance. Jeff shrugged, yawning.

"I don't know…I was preoccupied." There were more snorts and chuckles from the boys, and Kurt turned back to his soup, blowing at the liquid on his spoon because if Flint didn't want to tell Nick than Kurt wasn't going to interfere…after all, they were keeping his crush on Blaine secret.

"Imagine if it was Herman," said Nick, thoughtfully, and all the other boys choked on their food. Kurt coughed, raising a napkin to cover his mouth as he choked on a lump of chicken that had been in his soup because, after hearing the story of Blaine and Herman last year, the idea of someone who was _sober_ doing that was ludicrous.

_It seems that the Dalton boys are very good with dealing with hangovers – you wouldn't have guessed most of them got drunk last night if they hadn't been talking about what they couldn't remember. I'm not even remotely surprised though. I'm sure all it took was a couple of painkillers and Nick was right as rain…I have to admit the thought makes me both uneasy and relieved because I get the impression that they can take a hit and then get back up and keep going…Like I said, both reassuring and worrisome…_

* * *

Blaine felt the chill the moment he stepped out into the grounds. He wished that he didn't have to follow Flint, he would rather eat breakfast, but someone had to follow him, and Blaine was best equipped to deal with the situation. However, he was also the one that had the worst headache; a throbbing sensation in his temples, because he had drunk more than he normally did in an attempt to get rid of his depression towards the fact that him and Sebastian had broken up…He wished he could remember Sebastian saying those words _to_ him…He wished that he had those feelings that it would have conjured inside of him.

He sighed as he saw Flint, sitting with a straight back on the bench, brown hair a mess instead of being in its normal, combed over state. He vaguely wondered what it was about _that_ bench – it had been there that Kurt had told him the truth of what Karofsky had done, and it been the same place that he'd taken Kurt after the incident with Charles – but sank down by Flint's side in silence all the same.

"How do you feel?" he asked, softly. Flint swallowed, shifting his weight around on the bench, before he let out a long sigh. Flint ran a hand through his hair and then shrugged. Blaine sat patiently by his side, though, because he knew that Flint would talk when he was ready.

"I don't know…I just- it- it _hurts_," he whispered, hands clenching into fists in an involuntary manner. Blaine swallowed, knowing how he felt, and waited for more. "It was okay…I knew he wouldn't remember it…I know that it happened on impulse, I was the nearest person there, and if I'd been sane I would have pushed him away and slapped him, but…" he shrugged, and Blaine patted him on the shoulder.

"You did what anyone would have done," he said, sympathetically, but he knew that it wouldn't help how Flint felt on the inside. Flint let out a sigh, shaking his head with a sneer curling at his lips.

"_Right_," he said, snorting. "I think we both know that I was too weak to say no." Blaine snorted loudly, rolling his eyes because he could sort of see why people got annoyed with him about bringing himself down because this was _so_ infuriating.

"Flint!" he said, turning his friend roughly so that he was looking at him. His head was hung, but he eventually looked at Blaine with tired eyes, if only so that he could go back to moping once Blaine was done talking. "You're _in love_ with him! You've been in love with for _years_ – cut yourself some slack! If Sebastian had grabbed me then I would have done exactly the same thing!" Fling sighed, hanging his head and turning away.

"I guess…It just- I can't handle what he _said_, Blaine. Even if I reacted in a completely normal fashion and whatever, it doesn't change the fact that that's what he said – _felt_ – and he'll never know." Blaine sighed, eyeing Flint and wondering whether it would be at all productive to say what he was thinking.

"You know," he began, hesitantly. "you _could_ just tell him how you felt." Flint glared at him intensely in a manner that ought to be scary, but Flint had huge bags under his eyes and Sebastian was _far_ more terrifying than him. Blaine huffed in annoyance and rubbed his hands together. "It's not such a dumb thing to do, look at me and Bastian. _I_ asked him out, and I haven't been this happy in a long time."

"It's _different_," said Flint, shaking his head, firmly. "you and Sebastian…It was _obvious_ that he liked you. I mean, you _knew_ he did, even though you had your doubts, you just _knew_…_everyone_ knew!" Blaine sighed, wanting to argue with him about that, but he knew that it was true; deep down Blaine had known that Sebastian liked him, but he had been too scared of rejection to ask.

"Well," he said, biting down on his lip and considering what Flint had just said. "it's not- you guys are, you know, _different_…He's not- he's not the same with you as he is with the rest of us…I think it's there." Flint let out an incredulous snort.

"No offence, Blaine, but I think that I might not take your advice on romance." Blaine pulled a face, not at all offended, and managed to smile after a little bit.

"Alright, but…why don't you just reveal yourself on Valentine's Day, or something?" Flint shook his head, emphatically, and Blaine sighed once more because he was very fast running out of suggestions or ideas to help Flint. "Look, what he said has to count for something, right? He didn't say that it was the best kiss of his life for _nothing_." Flint shook his head once more.

"He was _smashed_, Blaine. It wouldn't have been _me_, it would have been the chemicals running riot in his system." Blaine rolled his eyes, huffing and searching around for more proof.

"Well, you don't know that so let's just call a truce on that point." Flint snorted quite loudly, shaking his head at Blaine in what was clearly an amused fashion. He scowled at Flint for a moment before breaking out into a grin of his own. "I have two more arguments, and then you can go back to moping." Flint breathed out heavily and rolled his eyes.

"Alright, what?" Blaine grinned at him, trying to make Flint smile, and, eventually, he did. Beaming a little bit wider, Blaine took a deep breath and, with the air Mrs Daniels always adopted when she was announcing something she deemed important, opened his mouth to speak;

"For one, he was flirting with you like crazy during _Animal_ – don't deny it because you were bright pink and rolling your eyes in that flustered manner – and, secondly, you're like Ron and Hermione." There was a pause in which Flint stared at him, blinking rapidly like he wasn't sure whether he had just heard what Blaine had said right before he let out a long groan.

"_Blaine_…" he said in a whiny voice, but Blaine just grinned at him, pleased with himself for thinking up the analogy.

"No, think about it; you two bicker all the time over nothing, you're smart and work obsessed, and he's an emotionally stunted prat that always puts his foot in his mouth." There was a pause in which Flint stared at him, clearly trying to find a way to disagree with what Blaine had just said.

"Alright, I'll give you that," he said, and Blaine smirked triumphantly. "_but_ that is a _terrible_ reason for me to ask him out because if, as you always claim, you are Harry that would make Sebastian _Ginny_…" Blaine pursed his lips together to stop himself from bursting out into laughter at the idea of Sebastian being Ginny. "So, unless you ship Drarry, I have a legitimate reason to ignore everything you just said." Blaine huffed, but fell into silence by Flint's side.

He had no idea what to say to Flint to cheer him up or make him feel better. He would have thought that Nick's words would have made things easier for Flint, but he could see that, from Flint's point of view, it had just made things a hell of a lot worse.

Flint assumed that it had been the alcohol in Nick's system that had made him say what he did – and Blaine had to admit that it must have played a part – and that had served only to strengthen the part of him that said that Nick would never love him the way that Flint loved him…or, even worse in Flint's mind, that he would never even find him _attractive_ in the same way that Nick found all the people that he slept with attractive. Blaine personally thought that, if Flint wasn't on Nick's radar which _was_ an if in his mind, his lack of interest came from the fact that they were really close – like brothers – and Blaine knew it would freak him out and confuse him if he suddenly realised that he'd fallen in love with someone he considered a brother. However, he got that Flint couldn't see it like that. All Flint saw was confirmation of the fact that no one would ever want him and that he was worthless and _nothing_.

He knew that Flint had really meant it when he'd sung _The Only Exception_ because Flint's parent's divorce had been an absolute mess and had also showed him that his own parents didn't even love him. It had made him think that _no one_ loved him – or could love him – and so he'd resolved to never fall in love because it would only quantify and add to his pain. He'd seen love wither and die like an unkempt houseplant, and he'd felt the double edged tip that was Cupid's arrow; to love but to be unloved in return, but after all that, he'd still managed to open up and accept – to himself – that he was in love with Nick because, at the end of the day and forever and always, Flint trusted and believed in Nick.

He heard Flint sniff by his side and put a hand on his shoulder in a gentle reassurance that Blaine was still there for him because Blaine had experienced a lot of what Flint was going through, but he had also gotten Sebastian and had the knowledge that people in his family still cared about him. He'd had his life threatened, _yes_, but it was happening to Flint by members of his own _family_.

He slid closer to Flint on the bench so that their legs were touching and put his left arm around his shoulders, pulling him against his chest and clenching onto Flint's right arm with his right hand. He wanted to make feel safe and grounded, and to let him know that Blaine was there for him no matter what.

"I'm just too scared that he'll say no, and our friendship will die," whispered Flint, raising a hand to wipe away the tears that had been dripping down his face.

"I know," said Blaine, smiling him and feeling a little bit choked up because he needed to talk to Sebastian. Also, looking at Flint was heart-breaking because he was in too deep and there was nothing that he could do about it. He didn't have the safety net that Blaine had about his relationship with Sebastian being special because with Nick it wasn't so obvious; Blaine knew it was different, all of their friends knew – well, maybe not Kurt – but Flint couldn't see it because it wasn't as blatant. It was the little things that Nick did, nearly always when Flint was too emotional to notice, that told them that. Flint had never really seen it the way the others had.

"I don't know what to do…what do I say to him?" Blaine shrugged, wondering what the other guys would have said to distract Nick from Flint's abrupt exit from the room.

"Just…_lie_," said Blaine, weakly, after he'd heaved a long sigh and thought it because there was really nothing else that Flint could do. "Say that you kissed…_Michelle_ by accident, or something." Flint snorted at that, bursting out into laughter, and Blaine joined in, shaking at the idea of a sober, gay person kissing _Michelle_…actually, it was kind of hard to imagine anyone other than _Nick_ doing it because Nick would sleep with anyone that he deemed "_hot_", regardless of how annoying they were.

"Right…" muttered Flint in a despondent manner, and Blaine couldn't blame him because who wanted to lie to the person they loved? Blaine sighed, chancing a look at him and wondering whether there was anything more that he could say to make him feel better. Unfortunately, nothing at all came to mind.

He bowed his head and stared at the grass with an angry frown, ignoring the intermittent sounds of people crunching across the frosty grounds. He chewed on the inside of his lip because his situation was so similar to what Blaine had been through with Sebastian, but he just couldn't think of anything that he could say that would help Flint deal with how he felt. It kind of hurt, to be honest, because what Kurt said was right; Flint would disregard his own asthma – that could be _life threatening_ – just to make sure that Blaine was okay, and Blaine was _completely unable_ to do anything to help him.

"It's alright, Blaine," said Flint, taking his hand and squeezing it, somehow knowing that Blaine was mentally beating himself for not being able to say, or do, anything more to help. Blaine rolled his eyes, sighing, and wished that Flint hadn't just said that. Somehow he felt really guilty about Flint offering Blaine comfort when Flint's heart was breaking.

"I'm sorry," he offered, still staring at the ground, now in shame at Flint focusing on Blaine when he ought to be thinking about him and Nick…though, Blaine supposed that he was a good distraction from that awful conundrum that Flint was caught in.

"It's fine…" There was a long silence as the crunching grass and the sound of breathing announced that someone was coming in their direction. "Hey Dylan," Blaine blinked and looked up at the towering figure that was obscuring the weak sunlight.

"Hey guys!" Blaine gave him a weak smile, vaguely wondering what Dylan was doing seeking them out when Blaine only really talked to him in fight club…Oh god, he really hoped that he hadn't done anything stupid last night.

"Err…" he began, feeling himself blush at the idea that he'd done something really dumb in regards to Dylan.

"It's fine," said Dylan, holding up a hand as he grinned down at him with eyes that sparkled with laughter. "you didn't do anything stupid…not to me, at least." Blaine nodded, taking in a relieved breath and glancing at Flint. Flint gave them all a pathetic attempt at a smile. Dylan shuffled his feet. "Um, Blaine, you should know that Sebastian is searching for you inside…Um, I think he wants to make out with you, but I can't be sure…it's, you know-"

"Sebastian," said Blaine, face lighting up in a grin because Sebastian was looking for him. Sebastian wanted him whether talk or kiss…God, Blaine felt light headed just thinking about it.

Then he looked Flint. He took in his slumped shoulders, his haggard expression and the way he looked like he might just topple over and collapse. He felt something drop down inside him – no, he couldn't go. He couldn't go and make up with Sebastian whilst one of his best friends sat outside in the freezing cold and felt utterly depressed and lonely.

"Thanks," he said, looking up at Dylan with a tense smile. "um…yeah…just- thanks for putting up with me last night, too." Dylan grinned, though he was eyeing Flint with a faint frown on his face.

"Hey, it's no problem," he said, holding up his hands. "like I said; you're my friend, and you should go and find Sebastian…I'll stay with Flint and make sure he doesn't face-plant into the grass and die of pneumonia." Blaine chuckled, glancing between the two of them to make sure that it was okay. Flint looked up at Dylan, eyes squinting a little bit before giving a firm nod.

"Yeah, it's fine…Go and cut down on the amount of moping that we do as a group." Blaine snorted and got to his feet. Dylan patted his shoulder and took Blaine's spot on the bench. Blaine looked once more between them, trying to work out how well they knew each other, before turning around and walking away, the most constrained of springs in his step.

The moment that he was out of sight of the bench, and firmly inside the warmth of Dalton Academy, he allowed an excited grin to spread across his face and a skip to fully enter his step. Looking around the relatively empty building, he decided that he might as well look for Sebastian in places that Sebastian would look for _him_ in.

With his grin getting even wider, he turned on his heel and began to walk towards the music rooms. He knew that they would be all but empty because most people didn't recover from hangovers like his friends – on that note his headache was _killing him_ – and so would avoid rooms that had the potential to make loud noise, which it made it even more likely for Sebastian to be there because Blaine was sure there was a limit to the amount of times Sebastian could make public declarations of his feelings for Blaine without murdering someone…likely Blaine.

His deductions turned out to be completely right because, when he made it to the music corridor, he could hear the sound of a lone piano tinkling instead of the normal battle of voices and instruments as they fought for the right to hear whether they were in tune or not. More than that, it was definitely coming from Warbler hall, which was the only room with its doors thrown wide open.

Standing in the doorway, he could see Sebastian sat at the piano, staring at the keys with a serious look on his face. Blaine smiled even wider – he wasn't sure how that was physically possible, but it was – because Sebastian was playing _She Will Be Loved_. He marvelled at Sebastian's ability to tell _one_ person that he was looking for Blaine and then just go and sit in Warbler hall, playing the song that had said that he'd always love Blaine, with the knowledge that Blaine would immediately come to him. He had to know that, even if Blaine hadn't gotten Dylan's message, Blaine would be drawn in the moment that he heard the refrain.

"Come in, Blaine, it's creepy that you're just standing in the doorway." Blaine jumped, unable to understand how Sebastian had known he was there without looking up and seeing him. Blaine smiled, blushing at the way he kept playing and the knowing, amused, twinkle that was in his eye now that he'd raised his head and was looking at Blaine, and watched as Sebastian began to sing;

_It's not always rainbows and butterflies_

_It's compromise it moves us along, yeah_

_My heart is full and my door's always open_

_You come anytime you want_

Blaine made his way over to the piano, feeling so undeniably nervous because Sebastian was looking at him in this manner that said it didn't matter that they'd fought because he'd always be on Blaine's side – by Blaine's side – ready to help no matter what…because that was how Sebastian loved him; that was what was special; Sebastian cared more about Blaine – knowing that Blaine was safe, and loved, and protected – than he did about himself, and he would _change_ for Blaine.

_I don't mind spending everyday_

_Out on your corner in the pouring rain_

_Look for the girl with the broken smile_

_Ask if her she wants to stay awhile_

And it hurt – it really hurt – and made tears well in Blaine's eyes as he came to rest against the piano because he could see that, _yes_, Sebastian would stand by him through thick and thin, and that he'd always fight for him and believe in him, but, also, that he would try and _fix_ Blaine. Sebastian would never give up on him, and he would go out of his way to make sure that Blaine got whatever he needed. He would be whatever Blaine needed and more because that was how much Sebastian loved him. That was wonderful for him, but it hurt to think that Blaine could never do that back, and because he felt unworthy of that.

_And she will be loved_

_And she will be loved…_

Sebastian got to his feet, leaving his accompaniment, and cradled Blaine face in his hands, staring down into his eyes with an intensity that ought to be frightening, but it wasn't because the only fire burning in Sebastian's eyes was one of love, and Sebastian would never hurt Blaine because he loved Blaine. Blaine was loved by Sebastian – he was _loved_.

It made a tear squeeze out of the corner of Blaine's eye because everything was saved. He didn't need to have heard Sebastian's words last night to know that Sebastian wasn't going to force him into anything. Sebastian wiped it away, humming the tune under his breath, and Blaine felt his breath get trapped in his wind pipe because they were so close, and there was so much to say, but…Blaine didn't have to say anything at all.

"I think you should get surgery," said Sebastian, staring at Blaine calmly. Blaine blinked, taken aback by that statement. "Get your tear ducts removed," he clarified, and Blaine found himself rolling his eyes like natural, a smile quirking at the corner of his mouth for no reason. "No, I'm serious," continued Sebastian. "You cry too much – I mean, some of the time that's understandable, but now…? We should be passionately making out." Blaine rolled his eyes once more.

"I'm sorry," he apologised, and Sebastian rolled his eyes back at him. "Um…so…are we…?" Sebastian huffed and gave him that intense look.

"Listen to me, Blaine, this is very important; I love you – end of story. I was thinking about how to…to stop you from _dying_ because," he hurried on before Blaine could say something. "I know that Holt is out to get you, but…I'm- I'm worried about you, here." Blaine blinked. Sebastian breathed out heavily and then took a second to think. "You're a danger to yourself, don't deny it, and I do not want to lose you – _ever_." Blaine swallowed. "I would do _anything_ to stop you from dying."

Blaine wanted to say something to that, taking a couple of deep breaths because no one could ever disagree with what Sebastian had just said. He swallowed again, touched tears stinging his eyes because Sebastian knew that would do _anything_ and that made him both wonderfully happy and dreadfully scared.

Before he could say anything, though, and no doubt ruining the moment by putting his foot in his mouth, Sebastian had leant down and kissed him. Sebastian wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling Blaine as close as he could to his body. Blaine relaxed into his arms, raising a hand to run it through Sebastian's smooth and soft and silky hair. His skin was so hot, burning, given that Blaine's fingers had been frozen outside, and Blaine closed his eyes, savouring his taste, his scent, his skin, his hair, his _feeling_…

* * *

_Dalton is so weird. I mean, don't get me wrong I figured that out on my first day, but when I got back to my room Juri was wrapped up in a sleeping bag – still fast asleep I may add – that was padded with __**donuts**__…For one, that was completely disgusting because they were…you know… __**donuts**__, but each one a little iced message on it saying "Eat me, Juri"…I have no idea what to take from that so I put them in a Tupperware because you can't sleep in a sleeping bag with donuts; that's just disgusting. I'm not even sure how Juri is __**still**__ asleep given that there is __**a lot**__ of noise around, but I don't have the heart to wake him; he looks…adorable, just like a little kid…It's really very cute. _

A quiet tapping against the door took Kurt's interest away from the _Vogue_ magazine that he'd only read when he was filled with fury and was so now reading properly, and he got to his feet as the door swung open. Keats' head appeared around it, brown hair much messier than Kurt had seen it before, and Kurt quickly pulled a finger up to his lips, telling Keats to be quiet. Keats' grey eyes darted around the room and caught sight of Juri's passed out form. He nodded and then indicated that Kurt should come to him. Kurt glided, willingly, over to the door and closed it behind him once he'd stepped out into the hallway.

"So…" said Keats, leaning against the wall with a smile on his face. Kurt came to stand by him, leaning his left forearm against the wall so that his torso was directly facing Keats. The way that Keats was standing, legs stretched before him so that the first part of him touching the wall was his lower back, meant that Kurt stood over him, looking down into his grey eyes.

"How's your headache?" he asked, and Keats gave a mild shrug, the corner of his mouth lifting itself up into a smile that made Kurt smile a little bit.

"I can't complain…I see your room is…_occupied_," Kurt let out a faint snort, rolling his eyes because that sounded like Juri was in his room with his, um…well, non-existent girlfriend. "do you want to come over to mine?" Kurt blinked in surprise at that and had the sudden realisation that he had never been into any of the other houses.

"Yeah, I'd like that! I've never been in another house." Keats raised an eyebrow in mild surprise before giving him a grin.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" he questioned, taking Kurt's hand and beginning to lead him down the hallway. Kurt looked around, noting that the people around him didn't seem to be at all bothered by Keats and him, for which he was intensely glad. It seemed like the whole thing with them dating seemed to have calmed down considerably. He guessed that they must have finally got their heads around the fact that Kurt was happy and that Keats wouldn't hurt him.

"How is Stuart doing?" he asked once they'd made their way outside – accompanied by some wolf whistling from Trinity – and Keats made a huffing sound.

"He's crying in pain at the moment; hang over and severe pain behind the eyeballs don't mix together very well." Kurt scrunched up his face in sympathy, letting out a long sigh because he couldn't imagine what Stuart was going through – almost blind and in excruciating pain.

"Oh," he said in the end. Keats looked over at him, expression saying that he did not have to say anything to let them know that he was sympathetic towards the situation.

"I'm going to go and buy him a new pair of glasses tomorrow so it should be over soon." Kurt nodded once, tight smile appearing on his face. "He'll be fine; Andy is reading to him – Homer may not be everyone's first choice, but Stuart can recite parts of it line for line, and he likes nit-picking at what he perceives as inaccuracies." Keats rolled his eyes, and Kurt just smiled at him because – despite having befriended them relatively early on – he didn't really know much about them.

The two of them strolled across the grass, hand in hand, and Kurt barely felt the cold that nipped at his exposed skin because his focus was on listening to Keats explaining why, even though his parents hit him, Stuart pranked his parents. Kurt personally thought that it was dangerous to do so, but Keats explained that Stuart always did it in carefully planned conditions where he knew that his father wouldn't flip out and hit him. Keats did admit that it was risky, but Stuart felt the need to fight back somehow, and, not being the most physical of people, he found it easier to make a stand that way…and Kurt could not condemn that because he'd felt that need to; that was one of the reasons he'd chased Karofsky because the feeling of weakness had been too great and the fire of injustice burning too fiercely in him and so he'd struck out against it…but he also knew that it had dangerous consequences.

Keats held open the door to Harriot, whose foyer was similarly littered with coats, sports kit and dirty shoes, and then led Kurt into the common room. He saw instantly that Blaine and Sebastian had been right on Kurt's first day at Dalton; the common rooms were exactly the same, but the blue was not as nice as the shade of red in Franklin. It was a little bit quieter than in Franklin, and most people were lounging around, talking, laughing and playing games.

Keats led him straight up the stairs, after Kurt smiled at Drew, who was slumped in an armchair dressed in a tracksuit, and towards his room at the end of the hallway. Keats opened the door, and Kurt stepped in eagerly, burning with the desire to know more about his boyfriend and highly interested in what Keats' room looked like.

His first thought was that it was very tidy and ordered. On Keats' side of the room there were sticky notes and bits of paper dotted around the wall as well as books and excessive amounts of paper that were all stacked neatly – the ones, that is, that weren't in the four bookcases at the back of the room. His bed was made, and there were some books and pens littered on it. He had a couple of photos of his friends on his desk where his school books sat, surrounded by a multitude of pens. He could see that the paper on the wall had random phrases; some of which were his, but others Kurt recognised as being from works of fiction or quotations from somewhere else.

Vince's side of the room was a lot barer. He had all his school books stacked neatly on his desk with many different pencils cases lined up by them. There was an easel on his bed that had a half completed sketch of a building on it, complete with measurements and mathematics, and there was a pencil, rubber and ruler there. There were four photos stuck on his wall. Apart from that, there was nothing at all.

"It's very neat," he said, turning around to Keats. Keats rolled his eyes and moved to his bed, scooping up the junk that was on it and carefully putting the things down in precise places.

"You really do feel the need to make small talk, don't you?" said Keats, smirking slightly as he flopped down onto his bed, leaning back onto his hands as he looked up at Kurt. Kurt rolled his own eyes and sat down by his side.

"Is there a problem with that?" he asked, playful smile dancing on his lips. Keats leant in closer, his hot breath making Kurt's skin tingle.

"Words are precious, Kurt; use them carefully for they are both your greatest weapon and greatest defence." Kurt wanted to say something to that, but Keats had basically told him to shut up and not talk unless it was absolutely necessary. What was he meant to say to that? "I am going to have to change your belief that you must _always_ talk." He whispered, looking highly amused, and Kurt rolled his eyes and made a huffing noise. Keats chuckled, leaning in swiftly and pressing his lips against Kurt's.

"That's going to get old one day," he said, once Keats had leant back a little bit, making Kurt follow him on instinct as he felt the ghost of Keats' kiss dancing on his lips. Keats shrugged in a careless manner, smirking, and Kurt wanted to say something more, but Keats grey eyes were so captivatingly calm that his mind had ground to a halt. Keats had that annoying effect on him.

"It may, but for now I rather like it." Kurt looked at Keats, smiling slightly, but was suddenly struck by a thought that came out of nowhere. Keats' head tilted to the side, noting the way that Kurt's face had fallen slack because all Kurt could think at the moment was something that Keats had said to him. "Kurt?" questioned Keats. Kurt let out a long sigh.

"It's nothing. I just- something you said to me last night came back…something that I didn't really like." He waited, silently, wondering whether Keats could remember the comparison that he'd made between him and _Sebastian_.

"Ah…" said Keats, pulling out a blank face that Kurt could not read. "I said that you were like Sebastian… I apologise, but you do know that that is not entirely a bad thing." Kurt felt his mouth twitch slightly because he knew that Sebastian was not a _bad_ person – after all, Kurt could never forget that Sebastian had leapt into the action straight away, without question, to sort the situation with Charles out, _and_ had pressed for Charles' expulsion – but, at the same time, he still did not like the comparison.

The main problem was that Keats had _slept_ with Sebastian, and Kurt knew that he had at least _liked_ the Warbler. He didn't like it because he disliked the fact that Keats was comparing him to the boy that he had a one night stand with and then got into a huge "_fight_" over – or something of the sort. That, and he'd already lost Blaine to Sebastian – it was strange, thinking that, as Blaine had never been _his_, but it _felt_ like that – and he didn't want to lose Keats to him too.

"_Kurt_," pressed Keats, brushing his hand against Kurt's cheek in a manner that was meant to be both loving and to draw attention back to him. "I know that- look; I was _drunk_. I said stupid things. I recited limericks to Parker and Stuart for ages until I sobered up." Kurt sighed, nodding in agreement because Keats was a chatty drunk, but the fact that he'd been drinking meant that less thought was going into what he was saying, which made it more true.

"It's nothing, just…I know that you liked him." Keats' whole body tensed, the hand against his cheek suddenly feeling ice cold instead of the gentle caressing warmth that it had been. Keats swallowed, very slowly and deliberately, and then withdrew his hand. Kurt missed the touch, instantly, but he did not move to try and regain it, waiting for Keats to say what was on his mind.

"Sebastian and I," he began, training his grey eyes onto the ground so that he did not have to look at Kurt. Kurt wanted to take his slightly pointed chin and turn it so that Keats had to look into his eyes, but he didn't. He didn't because he wanted to hear the truth more than anything, and if Keats was more comfortable looking at the ground whilst he told him that then Kurt didn't particularly mind. "We weren't _anything_…that was the problem…_I_ was nothing…I was a star in the sky, but I became a supernova, and I faded into nothing…Instead of over millions years like normal, it happened in one night. One stupid decision, one moment of weakness, and I faded…"

Kurt felt something inside him tear at those words. The certainty in his voice at that broke Kurt's heart, and he felt a burning hatred for Sebastian rise up inside him. He hated the way he took what he wanted from people and left them alone with nothing. He could understand Blaine's fear better, now, because _this_ was the product of Sebastian's one night stands when feelings were involved. With Nick it had been fine because neither of them had had feelings for each other, but with Keats… Sebastian had taken advantage of Keats because he wanted sex with him. He had used his feelings against him to get what he wanted.

"Keats," he said, putting a hand on Keats shoulder whilst suppressing the urge to rip Sebastian's head from his neck regardless of Blaine's feelings for him. "look at me." Keats looked up at him, grey eyes remarkably calm considering the intense emotions that he had conveyed whilst speaking, and stared straight into his eyes. "You're not _nothing_…You're- you've not _faded_…Your talent is…_incomparable_! There's no one at Dalton who can write like you. Even _Blaine_ admires your talent." Keats snorted, rolling his eyes slightly, but he seemed to have loosened up.

"I know, I have friends that told me that every day that I was brilliant, and they meant it because we don't throw our words around, but I remember that feeling every time I think about the way he ignored me, acted like it was nothing and threw me aside for _Blaine_." He spat Blaine's name, and Kurt felt himself, completely by instinct and accident, draw back slightly at that, feeling something sink down inside of him at the way that he'd said that because he was still angry, still bitter and it was simmering beneath the surface.

He took a couple of breaths as Keats' eyes dimmed and calmed down, his body slackened as he took in the way that Kurt had retracted from him in his moment of resentment. Kurt didn't know why, but his heart was hammering. He had seen Blaine angry before, but he wasn't as scary as Keats had been in the half second that his eyes had flashed, burning with a hot fire of jealousy, and the tone of voice; so furious and that deep rooted passion that had become twisted into something terrifying.

"I'm sorry," said Keats, holding up his hands and shuffling away from Kurt a little bit to give him some space to gather his thoughts. Kurt took some more deep breaths, not liking the way that Keats had distanced himself from him because of his anger. He didn't want Keats to run away from him because he cared for Keats so much, and he would take him with his imperfections because he made Kurt happy. Kurt was in pursuit of happiness – who _wasn't_? – and Keats fulfilled some of this.

"No," he said, putting his hands on his knees and fixing a serious look on Keats because Kurt was not going to be scared away. He knew that he didn't know everything – really _anything_ – of what had happened between Keats, Sebastian and Blaine, but he knew that it was bad. He had the full knowledge that people had ended up in hospital. He knew that Thad had sustained terrible migraines, and something awful had happened to Flint, and he knew that Blaine wouldn't have hurt his close friends like that, so he knew that had to be Keats and his friends, but… Kurt wasn't afraid of Keats. He didn't _want_ to be afraid of anything. He could see a kind, beautiful, talented boy, and he wasn't misguided – he just saw something that other people couldn't see.

"No what?" asked Keats, head tilting to the side slightly with the smallest hint of a smile on his lips, but Kurt couldn't be sure that that was real, or just the ghost of something that had died along with so many other things in their fight.

"You- you don't have to apologise; you were hurt, you were taken advantage of-"

"He didn't- it wasn't non-consensual!" Kurt held up his hands in a placating manner, a little surprised by Keats' instinctive desire to jump to Sebastian's defence…Then again, he supposed there was something different about hating someone because you had slept with them and them _raping_ you. Kurt knew that Sebastian wouldn't cross that line.

"That's- that's not what I was implying…I'm just- I'm just saying that Sebastian knew about your feelings for him, right?" Keats paused, lips pursing, before nodding. "Well, I'm pretty sure that it would have made it easier for him to get you into bed as a result of that." Keats sighed, looking at the ground before nodding in a tired manner.

"That's true, but it was- he gave me the chance to back out, but I wanted it – wanted _him_ – and so I didn't…" Kurt smiled at him in an understanding manner that was meant to tell him that Kurt was listening to what he had to say and not judging him. "Just…carry on." He said, giving him a smile. Kurt nodded in thanks, taking a second to think before inhaling a deep breath through his nose;

"Well, I was really just saying that, given what you went through, it's understandable that you feel angry at him…When you relieve emotions you expect them dim, but ones like that…" he broke off, thinking back to the locker rooms; Karofsky and Charles, and thought about all that he had felt – it made him feel tearful and afraid. "…they don't fade. It's still burning inside of you, and I understand." Keats smiled properly this time, lips curling upwards, and he slid back to Kurt's side, curling his fingers around Kurt's right palm. Kurt smiled down at their hands for a moment before placing his over the top, and Keats interlaced his fingers with Kurt's.

There was a moment of content silence. Kurt continued to smile down at their hands; pale fingers intertwined and a gentle pressure being exerted to let them get past whatever had just happened. Kurt knew that moments like the one they'd just had were important because Kurt needed Keats to be honest with him. He needed his boyfriend to be truthful and honest and open, and he was. For a brief moment, Kurt felt guilty because he was keeping a secret from Keats – one that _Blaine_ knew about – but he shook the thought away because Keats was keeping far more from him.

"You are a beautiful person," murmured Keats. Kurt felt himself blush, but before he could say anything more Keats continued to speak; "The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen."

The blush on Kurt's face was burning intensely, and he couldn't think what to say. With eyes that stung slightly, Kurt looked around the room, taking pleasure from Keats' soft, warm grip, and felt his gaze be captured by one of the post-it notes on the wall. His brow dipped ever so slightly as he read it, and then felt a smile spread across his face as he turned back to Keats.

"Cheat," he whispered, affectionately. Keats blinked, jerking himself away from his thoughtful trance. He shot Kurt a confused look, and Kurt nodded at the wall above Keats' head with an arched eyebrow. Keats twisted round, and Kurt heard him let out a sigh before he turned back to Kurt, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, you got me there," he said, not looking at all sheepish at using someone else's words instead of thinking of his own. "but I couldn't have put it any better myself. Those may be the words of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, but that doesn't mean it isn't the most apt description of you ever written." He pinned Kurt down with a quietly intense look. "Your suffering has made you the most beautiful person to grace Dalton's halls. Unlike Blaine you have not become blighted by mistrust, but, instead, you are accepting and open; you think for yourself and do not allow other people's conceptions and ideas cloud your own judgement. You and me only happened because you're beautiful – inside and out."

Kurt vaguely wondered how Keats – who, as far as Kurt knew, had never had a boyfriend – had become such a sweet talker, but he was more focused on what Keats had said. There was the same sincerity in his voice that Kurt had heard when he had read Keats' poems, and Kurt knew that he could never doubt what he'd said. He didn't know what to say because what did anyone say to that kind of thing? All he could do was blush – and ignore the jab at Blaine because Kurt knew that Blaine had been through far more than he had, and Kurt personally thought that being mistrustful of people was a rather minor reaction to all of that – and gape like a fish.

"You know," he said, finally, once he'd managed to get his brain into the correct gear and was being wound up a little by Keats' self-satisfied smile. "for someone who says that _I_ talk too much, you talk _far_ more than me." Keats let out a small laugh, amusement flickering across his face at that. He lifted his hands from Kurt's, and Kurt didn't miss the contact because they immediately came to rest at the base of Kurt's neck. Kurt smiled at him, wondering what Keats was about to do next.

"I apologise, I'm used to being the intellectual superior." Kurt let out an incredulous laugh at that, eyebrow arching to demand whether or not he was being serious. The part of his brain that was used to throwing out quips without thinking wanted to make a joke about Keats and Sebastian not working out because of their egos, but he stopped himself in time.

"I see," he said, trying to think of something else that was funny. "and you're sure that you don't have generous friends?" Keats smirked running his hands down Kurt's arms, hooking them eventually around Kurt's waist. It was hard to think straight whilst his hands were doing that; his sense of touch was going haywire and his brain was having a mini freak-out, and Keats' eyes were smiling so much, but he did manage to arch his eyebrow once more.

"That was uncalled for," said Keats in a very low voice, both in volume and pitch. "I was giving you a compliment!" Kurt continued to stare at him with one eyebrow raised.

"What did you say last night about affluent and shimmering words? If you want to tell me that I'm smart and brilliantly clever, which I obviously am, without feeling the repercussions then I would suggest saying something simple like "_Kurt, you are a genius, and I fall woefully short of brain cells compared to you_" or something of the sort." He smirked at his boyfriend in a supercilious manner. Keats rolled his eyes, giving him a withering look before reaching forward to press his lips to Kurt's.

Kurt didn't even feel surprised this time round, he was getting used to Keats kissing him randomly whilst they were talking, and instead chose to hook his arms around Keats' neck. Keats' arms were strong, tight and possessive around his waist, but he felt easy and relaxed in his grasp. Keats was undemanding against his lips, not wanting anything more than what Kurt was already giving to him.

Eventually, Keats leaned backwards, propping himself up on his elbows. Kurt went with him, making sure that he kept his lips glued to Keats' because the feeling that he was getting – the heat, the warmth – was too much for him to lose. He needed it because now that he'd had it once he wanted more, _more_, **_more_**.

Keats kicked off his own shoes and then somehow managed to slip off Kurt's boots. Kurt had shifted his position so that his hands were on the bedspread as opposed to around Keats' neck so that he had better balance. His upper body was pressed against Keats', slanting forwards so that he was half lying down on top of Keats. He knew that Keats had taken off their shoes – he still surprised how slickly he'd managed to do that – so that they could lie down without getting his sheets dirty. He had to smile at Keats' desire for things to be neat and clean.

Keats pulled a little way, breaking their contact and looking up into Kurt's eyes. Kurt swallowed, staring into Keats' burning grey eyes that were so oxymoronically calm and passionate. Kurt wanted to speak, to ask why Keats had stopped kissing him, but Keats had drawn away from him. He scooted up the bed and swung his legs onto the bed, lying them down on the other side of Kurt. He had propped himself up again on his elbows and was staring at Kurt with _those_ eyes. Kurt felt his breath hitch.

"Kurt," said Keats, in a low voice that seemed to reverberate inside of Kurt; feeling the vibrations of his voice somewhere in him. Keats extended a hand to him. "are you alright?" Kurt blinked and then realised that Keats was checking to see whether Kurt was okay with this development of their physical relationship – or so Kurt assumed. He smiled at that, feeling something swell inside of him at the further proof that Keats was caring and loving – and, no doubt, there was the serious threat of bodily harm and murder from his dad and the other Dalton boys if he did anything that Kurt didn't want.

Kurt took Keats' hand with a smile because he knew that he didn't have to say anything to him. Keats had been right when he said that they weren't bound to talking simply with words, and his own response had been just as true. In some ways, Keats had a point about him talking too much; things seemed so much more poignant when they spoke without words; their relationship strengthened with each level of silent communication that they passed through.

Keats pulled him down so that he was bending right over at the waist and twisting ninety degrees at the hips so that his face was inches from Keats'. He could feel shivers running up and down his spine as their breathing became shallower. Slowly because there was no hurry at all, Kurt rested his free hand against the bed and swung his legs up so that he was lying down by Keats' side, his upper body at a strange angle so that he could almost kiss Keats. Together, they shifted so that Kurt was lying directly on top of Keats. He could feel himself trembling from some form of anticipation because he had never been this intimate with anyone. He never thought he would be in high school. Sometimes he never thought he'd find this at all. He could feel Keats' heart beat through their shrits, slightly out of sync with his own so that there was an overlap of the beating. Keats laced the fingers of Kurt's right and his left together as he raised his right to brush against Kurt's cheek. Kurt leant down, sinking his left arm into mattress. His lips met Keats'.

* * *

"Where's Flint?" demanded Nick, slumped at the dinner table and pouting in a manner that suggested that he didn't like his roommate vanishing into thin air. Blaine, who was still grinning like a lunatic after making up – and making out – with Sebastian, shrugged. Nick glared at him as David and Jeff stifled their laughter. Juri blinked in a dopey manner whilst Chris leant in to fill him in. Drew and Fred both inserted their forks into their mouths.

"I last saw him with Dylan, but that was several _hours_ ago." Nick huffed and folded his arms, glaring at Blaine in a manner that said he was severely unhappy with him for that. "Look, I was rather distracted by making up with my boyfriend…He was happy with Dylan." Jeff frowned, ruffling up his blonde hair.

"Are they friends?" he asked, and Blaine shrugged because his mind was still caught up with Sebastian and the way the sofa in Warbler hall had moulded perfectly into the shape of his back…not to mention the moment when Luc had walked in on them entangled in each other's arms, Sebastian on top of Blaine and kissing him like he was dying with their jumpers lying, abandoned, next to the sofa. He was sure that he'd never, _ever_, live that down.

"Dunno," he muttered, stuffing some of the pasta into his mouth. David shrugged, and Jeff checked his watch in a rather paranoid manner.

"We won't be late," said David, casually, drinking some water. Jeff still looked rather nervous though. Blaine rolled his eyes as Nick shot his best friend a very withering look. "Morrison will send us a text if we _do_ start to run late." Jeff swallowed, mussed his hair up and then shot everyone a grin that was so obviously fake that even Juri, whose eyes couldn't quite stay open because his way of dealing with hang over was just to want to sleep _constantly_, noticed that it was wrong.

"She won't break up with you!" exclaimed Drew, rolling his eyes in an exasperated manner. "I mean, she puts up with all your crazy…and I don't even think that you did anything particularly embarrassing last night." All eyes flickered to Chris and Fred. The two boys looked at each other and then shrugged, shaking their heads.

"It wasn't so bad; you were making out in the grass like crazy, but Blaine and Sebastian were _far_ worse," said Chris, ruffling up his dark hair, as Fred let out a wide yawn and nodded in agreement. Blaine blushed because he was getting more and more humiliated as the day went on. The others chuckled at his expense, and Jeff looked marginally better at the news.

"Is Morrison with Lottie?" asked Nick, once silence had hung over for them for a long time. Blaine hadn't really been able to make conversation because his brain was still getting over the way Luc had roared with laughter as Blaine had fled the room, Sebastian pelting after him, and how they'd eventually resumed their previous activities in Sebastian's room, once they had made sure that no one would interrupt them, which was more for Blaine's benefit then Sebastian's because Sebastian wouldn't care.

"Yep, they're hanging out somewhere in the grounds of one of the schools…"_catching up_" on stuff." Nick shook his head.

"It's sad how I know that that's not in any way sexual." He was promptly kicked under the table by everyone who could. "I mean, they're getting married, and they haven't even done it!" Everyone attacked him at that, including Blaine, because their relationship was so sweet and adorable that it was frankly sacrilege to soil it with the idea of sex.

"Stop making everything about sex!" exclaimed Chris, throwing a meatball at Nick's head. Nick deflected it, sending it splatting into Juri's face. The Russian blinked once, clearly not sure what to make of the food flying into his face.

"Wow, I can't believe Kurt is allowing himself to walk around with hair like _that_." Blaine twisted around in his seat to see what Jeff was talking about. There, walking into the dining room together, were Keats and Kurt. Both of their hair was messy, but Keats' often looked like that once he'd run his hands through it enough, but Kurt's was normally nothing short of immaculate. Both of their clothes, too, had a distinctly rumpled look about them.

There was an intensely awkward pause at their table as Kurt sent them a small grin before sitting down with Vince and Parker. Blaine swallowed because Kurt hadn't even looked at them long enough to get a return of his smile. Nick let out a very quiet, half-hearted, wolf whistle. Blaine bit down on the inside of his lip, feeling highly uncomfortable at whatever he'd just seen, and spun around in his seat so that he was facing into the table again.

"You alright?" asked David, head tilting to the side and shooting him a questioning frown. Blaine nodded because he couldn't say what upset him about that sight, but he reckoned it was because he had thought that him and Kurt were becoming good friends, and it wasn't like he and Sebastian sat together all the time now that they were together.

"Yeah, just…thought we were better friends…kind of assumed that he'd be sitting with us." He shrugged in a fake nonchalant manner, and he looked at his plate, missing the weighted and significant looks that the others exchanged.

"Blaine, he is _dating_ Keats. You and Sebastian are kind of weird in that respect, but it's understandable that you're not sitting together what with _Daley_ being back now and all." Blaine swallowed once more, having already known that Sebastian and him would inevitably spend less time as a couple in public now that Daley was back at Dalton.

"I know, but…" he trailed off, shaking his head and shrugging. He couldn't say what it was, but something about last night had made him feel like he and Kurt had turned the corner onto something _special_. He guessed it was the way that Kurt had totally put up with him when he was drunk. Blaine wasn't sure; his recollection of the time was fuzzy, but he knew that he'd sung _Baby It's Cold Outside_ with Kurt. He knew that Kurt had been far more restrained than Blaine, looking after him and stopping them from doing something stupid. He had enjoyed singing with him; it had felt natural and normal. He sighed, looking around at his friends, who were observing him with rather concerned expressions, and managed to give them some form of a smile.

"Things'll get easier when lessons are back," said Chris in a comforting manner. There were some groans from the others about him being insane for saying things would be "_easier_" when they had lessons, but Chris grinned at him. "Trust me, when you've fallen into a routine it will be easier for you to deal with Kurt being with Keats some of the time."

"Yeah…" he muttered in a noncommittal manner because he got the impression that he and Sebastian had the potential to drift apart with lessons and things.

"Oh _there_ he is!" exclaimed Nick, projecting a glare onto Flint, who was wondering into the hall with Dylan and laughing. Flint didn't seem to notice or care about that as he bid the tall boy goodbye, watching him wonder over to a table occupied by Warwick, Alex, Trinity and some others that Blaine couldn't see properly, before walking over to them and sliding down.

"Hey guys! Aren't you two late for your triple date?" There were a series of loud groans at that, and Jeff scrambled for his phone in his haste to find the time and see if Morrison had texted him yet.

Kurt looked over at Blaine's table at the sound of raucous laughter. Flint seemed to have joined them since he came into the dining room, and it seemed that they were laughing at Jeff. Flint seemed to have said something by the rather bemused expression on his face, but the rest were laughing uproariously.

"Do you want to sit with them?" asked Keats, mildly, but Kurt got the distinct impression that he would be highly offended, and upset, if Kurt walked off to sit with Blaine.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "no, just…they're rather loud, but at least Juri's awake." Vince and Parker exchanged looks that apparently meant something because Keats rolled his eyes and snorted, but Kurt completely missed what was going on between them. He didn't particularly want to know.

"So, you two were busy, huh?" Vince waggled his eyebrows, and Parker choked on his food. Vince gave him a hearty whack on the back, and Parker gave them the thumbs up. Keats directed a rather icy glare onto his friends whilst Kurt went mildly pink.

"We had a very enlightening afternoon. How was your trip round town fan-girling over buildings?" Kurt arched his eyebrow, looking between the two boys and asking whether that was true, whilst both boys looked at each other and then nodded.

"It was "_enlightening_" as you might say," said Vince in a rather snide voice. "Parker got some rather interesting pictures."

"And Vince spent some _more_ time attempting to draw a reconstruction of that church that burnt down."

"What the one that got rebuilt as housing or whatever?" Vince nodded, and Kurt looked between them all, not sure what this conversation was about and feeling strangely out of place. Keats raised an eyebrow and scrunched up his face in mild confusion. "My God, go draw something else! You must have "_reconstructed_" it six times by now." Vince shrugged.

"Whatever, we dropped in on Stuart and Andy briefly." Kurt looked up in interest at that, feeling himself stop picking at his food now that the conversation had taken a turn back onto something that he was interested in and wanted to know about.

"How is he?" he asked.

"Ready to murder Andy," said Parker, casually. "once he has his sight back." Keats snorted, almost choking on his own food as he laughed. Vince and Parker rolled their eyes and shared looks that were long suffering, and Kurt looked between them in the hope that someone would enlighten him as to what was going on.

"Stuart thinks that Andy is butchering Homer," explained Vince, yawning widely. "because Keats gave him the bad translation that he has." Kurt turned to him with a raised eyebrow. Keats let out a small snort before forcing his face to be straight.

"I knew that it would help Stuart take his mind off it better if he could yell about how what Andy was saying was wrong, and Andy doesn't know the _Iliad_ or _Odyssey_ well enough to know that he was reading crap versions…and by crap I mean that they were translated by Freshmen studying extra-curricular Ancient Greek." Kurt frowned, looking between the three boys in confusion.

"Isn't the translation the same?" he asked, and Keats shook his head, mouth smiling as his eyes shone with laughter.

"No, classical translations vary greatly from publication to publication. Given that the language is dead it's up to personal interpretation as to how it is worded; the turn of phrase varies greatly depending on how competent at the language and aware of the norms at the time it was written the translator is." Kurt nodded, not at all sure what to say because he knew nothing of Ancient Greek, and only had a very vague, sketchy, knowledge of what went on in the_ Iliad_ and _Odyssey_.

_I have no idea why I feel so on edge around them. I'm so much closer to Keats than I have ever been before, and I know things about them that most people don't, but I feel as awkward as I did when I first came to Dalton…I don't suppose that it helps that the other guys are staring at me…_

"Is he alright?" asked Juri, looking over at Kurt's tense posture with an expression of concern. Blaine glanced over, frown falling onto his face.

"I hope so," he muttered. They fell into silence, Blaine picking at his food in a rather moody manner, before Jeff's phone began to vibrate, dancing around on the table. He snatched it up and then clicked his neck as he spun around to glare at Morrison, who was standing in the door to the canteen with a grin on his face. He gave them a jaunty wave before sauntering out of sight.

"Have fun," said Chris in a kind voice.

"Get laid," added Nick, and Jeff kicked him. Blaine chortled into his food along with the others as David dragged Jeff from the room by the scruff of his collar whilst the blonde cursed his best friend with death threats.

"Stop being crude," said Flint in a disapproving manner. Blaine looked over at him, eyes scanning his posture and face to make sure that he was okay. Flint caught him doing so and gave him a little wink. Nick pouted, huffing some more, and the others rolled their eyes at him.

"Where did you go?" Flint opened his mouth, but Nick held up a hand to stop him from saying anything. "No, don't answer that; _why_ did you go?" Nick, because he was so busy staring at Flint's rather blank face, didn't notice every other person at the table stiffen. Blaine supposed that they must have been filled in by Chris, or something.

"I disliked you bitching about how you couldn't remember _who_ you kissed because that was _your_ fault and least _you_ got kissed by somebody! It may or may not have escaped your notice, but no one has ever liked me like _that_ – even _Fred_ has people fawning over him, and he just blows stuff up, which doesn't really take any skill; no offense, Fred." Fred waved it away, looking highly amused. Nick blinked at him, completely taken aback by Flint's outburst. Blaine bit down on the inside of his lip, looking down at his plate because, for one, he was having to fight the urge to point at that Flint _had_ been kissed, and, secondly, he hated Flint talking about himself like that because Blaine knew that he really believed that _no one_ – let alone _Nick_ – would ever like him.

"Flint," said Nick, frowning and giving his roommate a disapproving look. "you shouldn't think like that; you're, very, _very_ hot." There was a moment of silence in which Blaine quickly lifted up his cup so that he could hide his smile. There was a round of choking from the others. Flint blinked in shock.

"I beg your pardon?" he choked out, and Blaine spat some of his water back into his cup because he couldn't swallow without some of it going down the wrong way. Nick gave him, and the rest of the table who were all busying themselves with their food and drink with smirks, a confused frown.

"Oh come on, I came onto you Freshman year." There was a highly awkward pause. Blaine let the rest of his water dribble over his bottom lip and back into the cup before setting it down, wiping his mouth and trying to get his mouth to go back into a straight line. Nick blinked. "I- I _didn't_ come onto you?" he asked, sounding frankly aghast at the idea that he hadn't flirted with one of his best friends. Flint shook his head. Nick blinked once more. "Oh, I'm sorry…that's awkward…you know, I could definitely get you laid if you wanted to."

Blaine rubbed a hand over his face, amazed by the intensely awkward atmosphere that Nick had managed to generate. He could tell that everyone else at the table was either highly uncomfortable or restraining the urge to burst out laughing at the situation. One glance at Flint told Blaine that he was trying very hard not to bolt from the room like he had this morning because he, like everyone else, could not tell whether Nick was suggesting that Flint hook up with _him_ or that Flint should hook up with people that Nick would have introduced him to.

"Nick," said Drew, after Flint had opened his mouth and found that he couldn't get anything to come out and so closed it once more. "unlike you, the rest of us aren't obsessed with sex."

"Please stop mentioning it," said Juri, yawning and almost poking himself in the eye with his fork. Chris batted his hand away so that he didn't blind himself. "it makes me uncomfortable." Nick opened his mouth, clearly about to comment on that fact, but he was glared down, in a protective manner, by Chris, Fred and Drew. Nick huffed once more. Blaine saw Flint deflate in relief.

"What did you and Dylan talk about?" asked Drew. "'Cause I didn't think that you and him knew each other." Flint shrugged in a casual manner, glancing nervously at Blaine for a second. Blaine frowned, confused, until he clocked onto what Flint was silently communicating to him.

"No, we didn't really know each other – we talked occasionally in lessons or if we bumped into each other in the gym, but…" Flint sighed, poking his fork into the pasta salad that had been picked up for him. "after…_you-know-what_ he talked to me; apologised, even though it was _Keats_' fault, and said he was there if I never needed a friendly ear…We chat every once in a while."

Blaine breathed out through his nose, shooting a look at Keats, who looked comfortable and was chatting to a far more relaxed looking Kurt, and tried to understand how he could look like that after what he'd done. He bit down on the inside of his lip because he wasn't going to start a fight and turned back to the others at the table. He knew that Flint had accidentally dropped a blue mood onto them, and he looked apologetic, but Blaine didn't mind. It wasn't nice to think about any of what had happened, but they had to get used to it. Flint heaved a sigh and began to explain that he and Dylan had talked about their families, but Blaine wasn't paying attention because he knew that he was right; they needed to get used to Keats. For Kurt's sake, they had to become accustomed to the memories, and presence, of Keats.

* * *

_The second of January passed by very quickly. I discovered that the donuts was something that Trinity had done – what a surprise – because they thought that Juri would become more awake, and therefore get over his hangover faster, if he had sugar in his system. I have to admit that it's sort of thoughtful and nice, but, at the same time, I was revolted to find out that Juri had eaten them all. I didn't see Keats at all, but I hung out with my other friends – I'm still getting used to Morrison and Daley being around like it's completely normal. I don't know where that day or the next went, but it's suddenly the first day of term!_

Kurt stretched, yawning, and looked around at his friends that were slouching over their food at the breakfast table. From what Kurt could understand, everyone was up earlier on the first day because students that hadn't made it back for New Year – and day students – were arriving back on campus, and they were up early to greet them. Juri had awoken Kurt far earlier than normal because he wanted to see some boys from Orchestra, or one of his clubs, and Kurt had just decided to get up with him, once he'd realised that he'd never fall back asleep.

It was highly disconcerting because the sky was dark, and Kurt would rather be tucked up in bed, fast asleep under his warm duvet, but there was an incredible buzz in Franklin that the term was starting. He couldn't work out whether they were excited for lessons or just to see their friends again and would be moaning about homework that evening and wishing they were back on holiday, but he would probably bet on the latter.

"Oh God," said Daley, yawning widely and mussing his wispy hair up so that it stuck up at random angles as he stared down at his phone. "QT have alerted the press that today is the first day of the Dalton term, _and_ that it's Cam's first day." Kurt, who had just about got used to the fact that an Emmy award winning and Golden Globe nominated actor was eating breakfast with him, looked around to take in everyone else's reactions; they all groaned.

"You better run and hide," said Sebastian, breezing into the kitchen and looking remarkably unfazed by the idea of the paparazzi descending on Dalton. Daley swallowed, looking mildly nervous, and Blaine reached over to pat his arm. "and I'll make sure that QT get punished; I'm still pushing for expulsion." Kurt blinked, eyebrow arching a little, even though Morrison had said that if he leaked anything to the press he would be expelled.

"They could be," said Chris, correctly interpreting the reason for the arched eyebrow. "they're not meant to say or do things like that, but it's very hard to come up with any concrete evidence; they're stupid, but not _that_ stupid."

"You'll see," said Blaine, giving him a grimace. Kurt sucked in a breath through his nose, not able to say anything more, and looked around the common room. Most people were slumped in armchairs munching on toast or fruit, though there were a few that were sloppily eating bowls of cereal and trying to not dribble milk on themselves or the plush sofas.

"Kurt," said Sebastian, tucking away his phone and looking at him with a mild frown. Kurt blinked, frowning a little bit in return, but gave him a steady look that said he was listening attentively. "Hammonds wants you and Flint in his office at eight." Kurt felt himself stiffen in alarm; he couldn't possibly have done something wrong, could he? He and Flint hadn't spent any time alone in the past couple of days except when they'd talked about Kurt and Blaine together…

"What?" he demanded, sure that he must have misheard. Sebastian rolled his eyes, probably at Kurt's concerned features, and heaved a huge sigh.

"You're not in trouble," he said, slowly. "Hammonds wants you and Flint to orientate a new student; he's a Sophomore, I think." Kurt blinked, a little surprised that he had been asked to look after a new student when he was so new himself, but nodded all the same.

"Oh, okay," he said, looking over at Blaine for some reason. He wasn't sure, but he thought he was looking for some help and advice over what he was meant to do.

"I'm going to man the gates," said Sebastian. "I'll have the other prefects with me; I'll need them if QT have got the press out there, so default anything else to Wes." He pushed himself away from the counter, ruffled up Blaine's hair and walked out of the room. Kurt frowned in confusion, a little bit bemused by Sebastian's choice to mess with Blaine's hair instead of kissing him.

"It'll be fine," said Blaine, sipping some coffee. "though I have to admit that I feel like I _really_ messed up with you." Kurt shook his head, waving it away because he didn't want Blaine bringing himself down about that; Kurt was fine and settled in Dalton, and Blaine needed to get over it and stop blaming himself.

"Blaine, that's in the past; I'm over it, and I never would have noticed if you didn't keep bringing it up!" Blaine gave him a sheepish smile and then ran his hand through his slicked down hair.

"Well, given that you _and_ Flint are orientating him, I'd say that he's probably gay, and he may have been bullied…I'm not sure what house he's in, but if he's in this one then you're meant to keep an eye on him. Otherwise, you just need to talk to him about his old school and make sure that he's okay and safe and all that – if anything comes up that really worries you then take it to Sebastian, and he'll deal with it." Kurt nodded, taking note of what he'd said because he suddenly felt intensely nervous at the idea of being partially responsible for someone.

"You vill be fine," said Juri, blinking and almost knocking over his cup. Chris nodded, rubbing his eyes, and smiled at Kurt in an encouraging manner.

"You and Flint are both easy people to talk to; I'm sure that you'll find that you're just going to be showing a new friend around the school." Kurt nodded once more, feeling reassured by the answer as Daley moved off to talk to some other Seniors.

"Do you think that we have assembly?" Kurt looked up in mild surprise as Dom appeared out of nowhere, frown on his face. Blaine nodded, and Dom pulled a face and moved off, but Kurt was interested; he had only heard of them having a final assembly at the end of the year, and, given that there hadn't been one at the end of last term, he had assumed that they were rare.

"Do you always have an assembly at the start of term?" There were nods from the other boys as Thad came downstairs, eyes barely open and slumped down next to Blaine, grabbing the closest thing to him – an empty packet of cereal.

"Yeah…" said Blaine, rolling his eyes, as he swapped the cereal box in Thad's hand for one that had food inside of it. "We only tend to have four a year, but if anything _huge_ happens-"

"-like the fight-" inputted Chris, and Kurt found that he was strangely indifferent to the mention of the fight that had happened in Freshman year because he had worked out that the only way to deal with it was by accepting that it had happened and that no one wanted to tell him for now. Blaine shot him a mild glare, but nodded.

"-yeah, like the fight, than he calls one…but normally it's just first day of each term and last day of the year…" he sighed, softly. "They tend to be quite serious," he added. "but it's not boring like the Carol Service was." Kurt nodded, checking the time in a fashion that was a little more paranoid than normal, but saw that it was only seven-thirty.

"Assembly will be at nine," added Chris. "you and Flint will probably take the new guy to his room so that he can dump his stuff and get into uniform depending on whether he has it on or not, and then you'll need to take him to assembly in the hall." Kurt nodded, smiling at him in thanks because he did need those little pointers on what to do because he really hadn't been at Dalton very long.

"Thanks," he said, and Thad grumbled something in, what sounded like, French and then looked at the time, shooting Blaine a frown. Blaine rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

"That's your own fault for getting back so late." Thad scowled in an annoyed manner, shooting Blaine a pointed look, before turning back to his food and scooping it up on a spoon that shook around in the air in a manner that suggested Thad couldn't hold his hand steady in his tiredness.

"I am looking forward to meeting Cam," said Juri, ignoring Blaine and Thad in a manner that suggested whatever weirdness that was happening between them was just normal, and Kurt turned to him.

"What has Cameron been in? I know who he is, but that's mainly because of all the publicity he gets, and he's a Goody protégé." There was a pause in which Chris indicated to his mouthful of juice, Blaine swallowed some coffee and pulled a disgusted face when he realised it was cold, Thad shrugged and Juri wrinkled up his brow.

"_Down South_," said Juri, and Kurt frowned, trying to work out why that name rang a bell. He knew that Cameron had been the voice of a character as opposed to a character on screen so that would mean it was an animated film…_Down South_…

"It's the one about those animals that escape when their zoo is set on fire, and they end up in Brazil or something." Kurt quirked an eyebrow at Chris, demanding to know whether or not he was serious, and the bookworm nodded with a straight face. "It's not as bad as it sounds…There were four films; _Down South_, _Down South: The Way Back North_, _Down South: Washed up in the Pacific_, _Down South: Building Home_." Kurt nodded, remembering colourful adverts about a mismatched group of animals running around and doing slightly bizarre things.

"Yes, I never saw it, but I remember now…Wasn't Todd Sommers in them?" All the boys nodded as one.

"Yeah, Todd played Norman the snake, and Cameron was Danny the lion cub." Kurt stared at them in disbelief, eyebrow arching on instinct because who named a _snake_ _Norman_? "We know," said Blaine, rolling his eyes. "the names are really random, but, like Chris said, the films are actually pretty good. There's a cast of about six animals, and it really focuses on them, and their journey to try and get back home and not eating each other and becoming a family."

"It has good message," said Juri, nodding emphatically. "all about acceptance and tolerance."

"Yeah, the penguin is gay…" said Blaine, shaking his head in amusement, and Kurt got the feeling that, during this conversation, he ought to stop lowering his eyebrow and then arching it again. "I know, but it's not done in this sort of "_I fulfil all the gay stereotypes_" way, but he's just this teenage penguin that doesn't know what to do because he doesn't want to breed with female penguin…eventually, he finds out that it's okay, and he gets a penguin boyfriend…" Kurt couldn't help himself. Despite being impressed about them managing to squeeze that important message into a kids film, he burst out laughing at the idea of gay penguins and penguins with penguin boyfriends. He bent forward across the table, laughing hysterically, because the images that it conjured up were _hilarious_.

"That's _brilliant_!" he exclaimed, finally, once he'd roped in his laughter. The others nodded in agreement. "I mean, not only did they get a really big message across to kids, but…penguins with boyfriends!" Blaine, Chris and Juri all shared rather indulgent looking smiles, but nodded again.

"Yeah, the film is really good in that respect," said Blaine. "I mean, the character progression of Danny is really mapped off Cam's own development and maturing, especially the relationship between him and Todd; at first he thinks he's amazing and knows everything and brushes aside the help, but slowly he comes to understand that there is plenty that he needs to learn and that he _needs_ help."

"Which is why we're looking forward to meeting him," said Chris, smoothly overtaking the conversation from Blaine. "There aren't many people that can see that their ego is severely inflated and then attempt to deflate it." Kurt nodded in agreement, feeling a smile curving onto his lips and excitement build up inside him at the prospect of meeting another famous person.

"What was he doing that stopped him from coming the first term if the films are finished?" he asked after a short pause. Blaine looked over at Chris and Juri with a thoughtful frown, like he couldn't quite remember the answer to Kurt's but definitely knew it.

"He's started filming a TV show," said Blaine, eventually. "It's his first acting role, and I think it's about a plane crashing or-"

"_Shipwreck_!" exclaimed Juri, blue eyes sparking as he remembered the name of the show. Blaine pointed at Juri with a grin on his face as Chris ruffled the little Russian's hair in an affectionate manner.

"What he said," said Blaine. "I don't know much about it, but I think it's airing sometime this year, so we're all looking forward to it." Kurt nodded once more, and Thad pushed away his bowl, rubbing his sleepy eyes in a laboured fashion.

"Should we go?" asked Chris, and Kurt nodded along with the others, hiding his grin because he was looking forward to meeting Cameron and the student that he was meant to be orientating. He agreed with the others that this person was almost certainly gay, and he wanted to be able to help them and look after them in the way that Dalton had looked after him.

Kurt wrapped Blaine's red scarf around his neck as Blaine put on the scarf that his brother had given him. Chris had a hat forced onto his head by Juri and Thad – Juri had jumped up and down in an ineffectual attempt to get it on the brown haired boy's head until Thad had snatched it from his grasp and yanked it down onto Chris' head so that it covered his eyes – and obediently put on his gloves. He noticed that neither Thad nor Juri were wearing the red jumpers or blue cardigans like the others or wearing any extra outer layer, and Kurt thought that they were crazy, but didn't do anything to stop them because he'd gotten caught up in Blaine's grin. Blaine was looking at his old red scarf with a fond look in his eyes, and Kurt could feel himself blushing heavily for no real reason.

Blaine then hooked one arm through Kurt's and the other through Juri's, who grabbed onto Chris' hand, and the four of them walked out of Franklin with Thad trailing after them, a step behind and still looking a little asleep. It was freezing cold outside, and Kurt found himself shivering quite a bit, but Blaine pulled him close, putting an arm over his shoulder, so that they were sharing body heat. Kurt had to work hard to not grin stupidly at his position in Blaine's arm and vividly reminded himself of the feelings that he had felt when he and Keats had been making out so that he didn't fantasise about being with Blaine.

The grounds were teeming with students, and Juri bounded off almost immediately to hug some people in the orchestra. Kurt managed to give Aaron – the only day student he even _vaguely_ knew – a wave and get one in return before Juri had knocked the pianist into the snow. Chris also vanished quite quickly, spotting some boys that he knew from book club, or poetry club, or whichever curricular and extra-curricular thing he had friends in, and went to greet them. This left the three Warblers walking along side by side, Thad having been pulled round to warm Blaine's other side, in no real direction until they met up with David, Nick, Jeff and Flint.

"They're not here," said David through chattering teeth. "Morrison went to say hello to some guys from drama club or whatever, but they're on their way…I'm not sure whether QT are going to make it – Cam is literally seconds from killing them." The other boys snorted, their breath forming into white clouds in the air before dissipating.

"That would be an interesting article," said Blaine, thoughtfully, his gaze, like all the others, wondering down the grounds towards the gates. Kurt copied them and saw instantly what was causing their jaws to jump and angry frowns to form on their faces.

Even from their position right up the drive, they could see the bright flashes of cameras. The users of the cameras swarmed around the gates like black flies. He watched as Daley went charging past them, red hair flyaway, eyes filled with tears, and Wes dashing after him. He saw the faces of all the others tense, and their postures became rigid in anger. Kurt took a deep breath because he didn't know what had happened, but he knew that Daley was a nice guy, and he didn't deserve anybody picking on him given that he'd had some sort of breakdown – especially not at Dalton. It made him feel slightly sick; they really were flies buzzing around the carcass of a talented boy whose reputation had been torn apart by him withdrawing from filming and his girlfriend dumping him over a _guy_.

"I'm going to fucking kill them," muttered Morrison, appearing by David's shoulder with an intense scowl on his face. He was shot questioning looks by the other guys, but he simply shook his head, disregarding whatever question they had silently asked him.

"Cameron might have already done you that favour," said Jeff with a slight grin that Morrison could barely return. Kurt could _feel_ the tension that was rolling off him in waves as he shook his head in a grim fashion.

"Cam needs to stay out of the spotlight as much as he possibly can…That bird eating story was _genius_, and we can't thank him enough for taking that bullet, but the whole thing is just going to come round and bite his ass for sure; if he fucks up at _all_ – if his show flops – then they're going to be on him like a pack of wolves."

"You think they'll tear him apart?" asked Flint in a concerned manner. Morrison shook his head.

"No, if they tore him to pieces then we could help…No, Cam won't let himself break down that far. He'll put up some walls, and he won't let me help, or Daley, and _that's_ what I'm worried about; I don't want to lose him to the selfish prick that he still knows how to be." There was a heavy silence after that in which David patted his shoulder in a comforting manner.

"Did you get the message from Sebastian?" asked Flint, eventually, breaking the silence by turning to Kurt. Kurt nodded as Juri, Chris, Drew and Fred began to make their way back over to them.

"Yes," and he looked around to check the time because whenever he thought about it he was struck with the paranoid fear that he was going to be late.

"We've got around fifteen minutes," said Flint, sending Kurt a mildly teasing grin. Kurt rolled his eyes and grinned back at him in a manner that was somewhere between superior and cool, but Kurt didn't know which one he was aiming for.

"I hope this new guy's alright," said Drew, frowning. "I mean, it's a bit _ominous_ asking for both Kurt _and_ Flint, don't you think? I mean, you guys are great, but…you've not exactly had this shit easy." Flint shuffled his feet before shrugging whilst Kurt examined the others with a frown, taking in their reaction and wondering whether this kind of speculation had happened when he'd first arrived at Dalton.

"I'm sure that he's only asked for me because I'm in Harriot," said Flint in a soft voice, and Kurt frowned deeply at that, unsure how Flint could have drawn the concrete conclusion that the new boy would be in Harriot. "I know he's going to be in Harriot," said Flint, catching onto Kurt's confused expression. "for two reasons; one, Charles was in Harriot, and this guy is a Sophomore so that makes sense, and two…" Flint sighed, looking between Kurt and Blaine for some reason. "if they were going into Franklin, it would be you and Blaine."

Kurt nodded, mouth closing because he didn't need to ask questions anymore. He had to admit that Flint's hypothesis made sense because Flint had never been bullied, as far as Kurt was aware. Kurt knew that his family were completely against his sexuality, but he also knew that Flint had only ever been to Dalton so he'd never been bullied. It made sense for Flint to be chosen simply because of his house as Blaine was also at odds with his family – well, just his dad, but it was more than Kurt – and so if they were in Franklin there really would be no need for Flint.

Whilst that made perfect sense, Kurt was left with the question as to why Hammonds hadn't asked for Blaine over Kurt. Blaine had suffered much worse than Kurt had at the hands of bullies, and Kurt couldn't really offer anything different to what Blaine could, _and_ Blaine had been at Dalton far longer. However, maybe that was _why_ Hammonds hadn't picked Blaine. Blaine had suffered a lot, and he'd almost _died_ over the holidays, so Hammonds might not want to force upon him the responsibility of _another_ student. It made sense, actually, for Hammonds to not use Blaine as long as he had other people that could cover the bases and make sure that the new boy settled in okay.

"I think he'll be physically alright," said Kurt, speaking up after he'd pulled himself out of deep thought, and interrupting the conversation that had come up between the other boys. There were a couple of frowns and a lot of blinking, and Kurt gave them all a smile. "I never got physically attacked…well, only locker shoves, but they weren't so bad…" he shrugged, letting the silence tail off, and could tell from their faces that they understood that that was only a half comfort; _yes_, he was not physically hurt, but mental afflictions could be just as – if not _more_ so – deadly.

"This is _so_ depressing," commented Nick, frowning around at the bleak sky and all their rather grim faces. "Where are Tri-" Jeff slapped a hand over his mouth to stop him from uttering the name that could, potentially, summon the three hyperactive boys from where they were bothering some other students.

"Here they come," said Morrison, suddenly, tucking his phone away and nodding at the gates. Kurt looked around and saw that the huge gates were sweeping open to allow a black car with tinted windows to sweep up the drive. As they all watched, several reporters took their chance to dash onto the grounds. He saw the mousey head of George holding the gates wide open enough so that they could just the trespassers out, but not open enough to allow more in whilst Sebastian, Norman and Mac were attempting to throw them from the grounds.

He was torn away from watching the punch-up that appeared to be happening between Norman and a reporter by Blaine snagging onto the sleeve of his elbow and beginning to drag him, along with the others, towards the car park where the black car was coming to a halt. He turned around, pulling himself from Blaine's grasp, so that he could jog alongside Flint whilst the others, except Jeff, dashed off. Flint was taking it pretty slow, but Kurt got the impression that he was only doing so because Jeff kept glaring at him and putting a hand on his shoulder. He reckoned that Jeff would probably tackle him to the ground to stop him from running and giving himself an asthma attack.

When they finally got to the car park, a couple of minutes behind everyone else, Sebastian and the prefects had expelled all the reporters from the grounds except for the one that was still attempting to punch Norman in the face. The car had all its doors wide open and luggage was being pulled from the boot by three blonde haired boys, who could almost be brothers at a first glance. Two of them were identical; same height, same sharp nose, same blonde hair that was slicked back and looked oily from the overuse of gel, same naturally arching eyebrows and light brown eyes. The other boy was quite a bit shorter than them with broad shoulders, blonde hair that was pulled back into a pony tail that went all the way down to his shoulder blades, rather chubby cheeks, button nose and amber eyes that looked almost like copper. He, alone, was smiling.

"Cam," said Morrison, dragging the boy, who was dressed in a Dalton blazer that looked a little across the chest, towards them. "this is Flint, Jeff and Kurt." Cameron gave them all a nod before twisting around to see if the reporters were gone.

"How very rude of you, Morrison," said one of the QT twins in a very snide tone of voice.

"Yes, how could you not introduce _us_?" Morrison pulled a face that Kurt could understand because, after hearing just two sentences from the boys he instantly disliked them. He disliked their tone of voice, the sneer on their faces and the way they looked down on him like he wasn't fit to be in their presence.

"You have _ears_ don't you?" snapped Morrison. "You heard perfectly well that _that_ is Kurt, and you should know that he sings far better than you ever will – even with the wonders of auto tune." Both boys tutted in a dismissive manner, sharing looks that said "_yeah right_", and slammed the boot shut. Kurt found himself smiling a little bit, though, and blushing because Morrison had never heard him sing, but he'd said that with such certainty in his voice that Kurt couldn't help but be flattered.

"You're _so_ petty, Morrison," spat one of the Goody's, and the other one nodded.

"Yeah, you're _pathetic_." There was a round of snorts from the Dalton boys.

"Right well, let's get your stuff over to Franklin," said Morrison, turning his back on the twins and picking up one of Cameron's cases. Kurt watched the actor grab his other one, shooting Morrison a small grin, and they began to walk away.

"_Hey_!" exclaimed one of them. "_Where are you going_?"

"_Yeah_!_ Help us with our stuff_!" Kurt looked at the other Dalton boys, who were all suppressing laughter, and carried on walking with them. They walked for a couple more metres, until they were out of earshot of QT, and then came to a stop. Cameron grinned up at all the older students.

"Hey," he said, pulling out a dazzling show smile, and Kurt got the distinct impression that he was a little bit on edge in their presence. "it's nice to meet you all; I've heard far too much about you." There was a moment in which Morrison smile told them that _that_ was the more real Cameron; Kurt wasn't sure how much that he knew about the boy at all given that he'd made up a story about eating his pet birds.

"We've heard rather a lot about you too," said Jeff with a friendly grin on his face. "Mostly about whether or not you are a genuine arsehole." Cameron snorted, looking down at the ground with a small smile on his face. Kurt stared at him in mild confusion because if he had gained one impression that he was sure that was fairly accurate it was that Cameron was _not_ shy.

"You alright?" asked David, voice dropping in pitch as the tone became concerned. Cameron rubbed his hands together and looked around at the reporters outside the gate and QT.

"Yeah, just…It's never easy being on a plane with QT, but this time…" he trailed off and shuddered. "Wouldn't fucking leave me alone; I think they're trying to make me snap, or something." Morrison reached over to pat his shoulder, solidly, whilst Kurt pursed his lips and sent a glare in the direction of the Goody twins as they stood around waiting for someone to carry their luggage for them.

"They won't manage it," said Morrison, confidently. "once you're here you'll barely have to see them; you're not in the same house so you don't have to spend any time around them unless they seek you out to torment you which – by the way – they will probably do at some point because they're sad like that." Cameron snorted once more, shaking his head and looking around the frosty grounds with mildly narrowed eyes.

"Right…_great_…" he muttered, and Kurt got the very distinct impression that he was not looking forward to Dalton that much. Morrison patted his shoulder once more, shooting him a sympathetic look.

"Cam!" Before anyone else could speak, Daley came dashing out of nowhere, tear tracks gone from his face and looking overjoyed. Cameron broke out into a small, slightly sarky looking, grin and hurried over to give him a hug. Daley patted him on the back as they broke apart, both grinning at each other. Kurt had to admit he looked a lot better now that he was smiling in a genuine manner.

"Daley, hey!"

"So," said Daley, pointing to the Seniors that had assembled behind him. "these are Norman, George and Mac – they're the prefects – this is Travis, Liam, Wes and Sebastian – head boy." Kurt saw Cameron's face light up when he got to Wes and Sebastian; he supposed that Daley had mentioned them to him or something. Cameron reached forward and shook all their hands, grinning up at the last two especially.

"Nice to meet you all," he said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his grey trousers.

"You're being orientated by Braden; he's your roommate, and he's…" Sebastian trailed off, looking around and not immediately spotting the boy.

"I'll find him," said Travis, rolling his eyes and walking away from the group. Cameron's gaze shot around the group, asking for information on Braden.

"He is great!" exclaimed Juri, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. "He plays mainly cello, but he does Viola in Orchestra 'cause we are not having as many, and he plays trumpet! He is very clever!" Cam eyed Juri with a mildly disturbed look on his face like he wasn't quite sure what to make of someone who got excited over the fact that his friend had been mentioned and was clever and musical.

"You might not want to do that," said Morrison, casually. "Chris, Drew and Fred can get pretty over protective of their "_little guy_"…and that's considering the fact that Juri vehemently denies that he's their "_little guy_" because…" he trailed off as Juri, who had gone even pinker in the face in indignation, burst out;

"_I am not little guy_!" he exclaimed, voice jumping up in pitch as he did so. "_Ivan is little guy_! _We cannot both be little guy_!" He stomped his foot into the snow in apparent frustration, and Kurt had to purse his lips together very tightly to stop himself from bursting out into laughter because Juri really looked like a pouting child. His hair was then ruffled by Chris, Drew, Fred and then every other guy – including Kurt – ruffled up his hair too; except Sebastian, naturally. Cameron looked somewhere between highly disturbed and amused.

"I hope you're not calling Juri "_little guy_" again," said Braden, appearing out of nowhere. Kurt watched with a small smile on his face as Braden's eyes, which were amused, flitted onto Cam, passed over him, and then did a double take. His eyes bugged wide open. "_You're_ the new student that I'm orientating!" he exclaimed, looking excited and like he was seconds from bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet but wasn't doing it because then he would be liked Juri.

"Yep," said Cameron, hands in his pockets with a smile on his face from the fact that he was famous and recognisable and that people were excited to see him. Braden looked around for some advice, and Sebastian rolled his eyes in a highly exasperated manner.

"You take him to your room, ditch his stuff, answer his questions – which he won't have – and then take him to assembly and lessons. Oh, and Hammonds wants to see you at the end of the day." Braden nodded and made a vague gesture with his hand to indicate that Cameron should follow him. Cam gave the group an awkward nod and then followed Braden away across the grounds. Sebastian turned to Flint and Kurt. "We need to go to Hammonds' office now." Kurt looked at the others and was given supportive smiles by the others.

"Do you know anything about the guy?" asked Flint as they began to move off towards the main building. Sebastian shook his head in a very controlled manner.

"No, but no news if good news – I only get told beforehand if there's something serious to worry about." Kurt sighed in sync with Flint, the two of them sharing smiles of relief, because he felt like he could breathe a little easier now that he knew that the person that they were meant to be looking after was _okay_.

"Oh, well; that's a relief, I suppose," muttered Flint, but Kurt got the feeling that Sebastian was not about to have a conversation with either of them; he seemed awfully tense and uptight. Kurt looked at Flint, who shrugged a little bit, and they both looked at the head boy on their right hand side. "Is everything going to be alright to do with the reporters?" asked Flint in a rather tentative manner, like he was expecting Sebastian to bite his head off.

"Fine; the ones that broke in will be charged for trespassing, and the one that attacked Norman will be charged with assault so they'll have some happy times doing their punishment." Kurt nodded as they walked into the warmth of the main building. "I have to admit that you guys are going to have a weird job. For whatever reason, Hammonds didn't pick a Sophomore, so you're going to have to make sure that he's making friends and coping between and after lessons – it'll fall more to you, though, Flint." Flint gave a shrug that said he didn't mind as they reached Hammonds office. Mrs Aarons gave them a nod that said they should go in. Sebastian knocked on the door and then opened it.

"Sebastian, Flint, Kurt, come in." Kurt filed in after Sebastian and Flint and looked at the family that were sitting before Hammonds' desk. There was a man in a sharp suit with slicked back brown hair, briefcase resting by his leg and thick-lensed, wire-rimmed, glasses that were almost slipping off the edge of his nose. The woman was dressed in a nurse's uniform, her dark haired scraped back into a tight bun and she was nervously checking her watch. The boy in the middle was quite broad shouldered and slightly chubby looking. He had short brown hair and was dressed in Dalton uniform.

There was a mildly awkward silence in the room as Kurt stopped at the side of the room by Flint's shoulder, feeling rather strange looking in on the sight of new boy when that had been him not so very long ago. Sebastian was looking at Hammonds in a highly expectant manner whilst Flint was eyeing the new boy, and the family stared at the new additions to the room.

"Okay," said Hammonds, clapping his hands together and giving everyone in the room a smile. "this is Sebastian, he's head boy, and Flint and Kurt. All three of these boys are gay and out, and it will be Kurt and Flint that will orientate you." The boy gave Kurt a nervous smile, meeting his eyes, and Kurt felt the strangest feeling that he _knew_ him…or had at least _seen_ him before. He couldn't place it, but he was that he had. "Boys, this is Trent Nixon," the three of them nodded as one, and Kurt noticed that Sebastian was giving him a very thorough once over. "Kurt, do you know him?" Kurt took a deep breath in through his nose, wrinkling his brow, and then shook his head, pulling a face.

"No…I'm sorry, am I meant to?" he asked, hesitantly, feeling instantly bad that he might have forgotten someone. Hammonds shook his head, sending him a rather amused looking smile.

"No, I wouldn't say that you're "_meant to_", I was just wondering if you did. Trent was at McKinley; he's a Sophomore, but he had some lessons with Juniors as well…I thought you might have come across him, but if you haven't that's understandable." Kurt looked back at Trent, understanding why he had the niggling feeling that he had thought he'd known him, but then shook his head.

"No, I don't we think we had any lessons together."

"We didn't," said Trent, speaking up with a hesitant look on his face like he wasn't sure that he was allowed to talk. "I only had Spanish, English and Maths with the year above; your step-brother was in my Spanish class." Kurt blinked, mildly surprised that he knew that Finn was his step-brother. Trent rolled his eyes, smiling slightly. "Your parents got engaged in our home room," he explained. Kurt flushed at those words as both Flint and Sebastian turned to him with raised eyebrows and Hammonds blinked in confused surprise.

"Okay," said Hammonds, looking mildly thrown by the random aside in the personal lives of Kurt's family. "anyway, I asked you to help orientate him because of that, and Flint, he's in Harriot with you, um…" Hammonds broke off at that, looking once at Kurt before continuing. "and I want you to put him in Charles' old room." There was a brief pause in which Kurt didn't react in anyway like he thought Hammonds was expecting him to because he was really over it, and he'd had forewarning from Flint when he'd been explaining why he thought Trent would be in Harriot.

"Okay," said Flint, and Kurt was mildly surprised that Sebastian had not said anything this entire time; he was just standing at the side of the room looking rather tired and little bit under the weather – no doubt because of all the crap that he'd had to deal with in the aftermath of the party, and the press problem – and staring at the new student rather intensely. Then again, Kurt couldn't quite remember how much he'd spoken when Kurt was new…though, Kurt's situation had been different.

"Alright," said Hammonds, and Kurt noticed that he, too, was eyeing Sebastian like he'd figured out that there was something slightly off with him. "Kurt and Flint, can you take Trent and his things to Harriot and get him settled before assembly; sit with him and get him to his first lesson…You know what to do," he said, and Kurt and Flint nodded as one. "Sebastian, I take it we need to talk about the incident at the gates?" Sebastian nodded, curtly.

"Yes sir,"

"Is Norman alright?" Sebastian nodded instantly.

"Yes, he's fine, but that doesn't detract from the fact that the reporter was _looking_ for a fight; too dumb to realise that we've got security cameras on the gates." There was a very smug note to Sebastian's tone of voice that Kurt could have sworn was making their Headmaster smile in that same amused manner that he seemed to have.

"Alright," said Hammonds, clapping his hands together in a very final manner. "are you all comfortable with everything?" he asked, looking at the Nixon family. Both parents looked at Trent. The boy took one second to pause for thought before nodding in a firm manner. Hammonds smiled. "Excellent, welcome aboard," Hammonds got to his feet, shaking hands with the two parents as the three that were seated did the same. "Kurt, a quick word," Kurt, who had been prepared to walk out of the room, froze and then nodded. Flint moved over to do the door, opening it, and held it open so that the family could walk out first. Kurt looked at Sebastian, who was still standing by the side, and then back at Hammonds.

"Sir?" he asked, and Hammonds gave Kurt a small smile.

"This may sound a little bit weird, but I want to know whether you would be okay if I mentioned what happened to you and Charles in assembly…It's a situation that was dealt with quickly, but I'd rather avoid it ever happening again." Kurt blinked, mildly surprised that Hammonds was asking him, and then nodded.

"Yes, of course." Hammonds gave him a smile, nodding in thanks as he retook his seat. Kurt blinked a couple of times before realising that he was meant to be leaving.

"Thank you, Kurt," said Hammonds, looking up at him with a smile. "have a good term." Kurt gave him a wide smile, saying that he would, and walked to the door, catching a brief glimpse of Sebastian settling himself into the chair directly opposite Hammonds' desk before Flint closed the door.

Kurt had to admit that he felt strangely nervous as he stood in Dalton's spacious foyer watching Trent be hugged and kissed goodbye by his parents. He noticed that Trent looked rather embarrassed by being showered by their affections as Flint collected his various pieces of luggage and tested their weights.

"You'll take care of my son?" asked Trent's dad, walking over to Kurt and jolting him from his thoughts about why Flint was lifting each case up more than once, studiously not looking at the family. Kurt blinked and then nodded, offering him a reassuring smile.

"Of course, I was new myself quite recently." Mr Nixon nodded.

"I know, um…" he looked around, taking in Trent pulling himself away from his mother and giving her a firm look that said that he was going to be fine. "he's not- he's having it a bit… _weird_ with the boys he was friends with at McKinley; I think that it's bothering him, so can I ask that you make sure he makes friends?" Kurt gave the man before him a reassuring smile, remembering the feelings that he'd struggled with when he seemed to have no real friends at the beginning of his time here.

"I will…It was hard for me; my transfer, and it took a while for me to settle in and feel secure with my friends – I'll look after him." Trent's father gave him a genuine smile at that, relief washing over his features. He held out his hand, looking back around to see that Trent was taking some of his luggage off Flint, who seemed to want to break his back. Kurt accepted it with a smile, feeling his strong grip and squeezing back firmly.

"Thank you, and, Kurt, I'm sorry." Kurt stared up into genuine, sincere, apologetic, brown eyes and felt completely, and utterly, confused. He swallowed, eyes wide and slightly overpowered with the intense look that he was getting, and made to speak, but Mr Nixon had let go of his hand, walked over to his son, clapped him on the back and gave him a final hug and then walked off with his wife.

"You okay, Kurt?" asked Flint, walking over to him in a rather laboured fashion. Kurt rolled his eyes at him, shaking away the look of shocked confusion on his face, and peeled one of the rucksacks away from Flint with a glare at him for putting his back under great strain.

"Fine," he said. Flint shot him a disbelieving look, but Kurt decided that he was going to focus his attention on Trent. The boy looked a little bit out of his comfort zone, but Kurt could absolutely not blame him for that. Trent sighed and gave him a nervous smile.

"Um…this is going to sound really weird, but it's really cool to meet you." Kurt stared at him, eyebrows raising in disbelief and shock because if there was anything that he was expecting an ex-McKinley student to say to him – even if they were gay – it was _not_ that. He looked around at Flint, who pulled a face that asked why that was such a terrible thing for him to say, and then turned back to Trent.

"Um…_what_?" he asked as they began to move through the school that was dotted with clumps of students catching up after the holidays. Trent gave him a nervous smile.

"I know, I said it was weird, but…I really admired what you did; you joined the New Directions, you were _out_…Those were two things I couldn't do…" Kurt sucked in his cheeks, trying to think what a good response to that was. He knew that signing up for the New Directions had simply been because singing was a passion, and he'd needed a platform for that; his talent craved an audience and the New Directions had been the best place for that, and coming out… Coming out was… He'd come out to Mercedes because she was his best friend and she had been crushing on him in a weird manner and he'd _needed_ to get it out; he needed to get rid of his secret because it was suffocating him and it was so hard and he _needed_ that positive response. It was the same with his dad; that positive response had told him that it was okay. His dad standing by him had given him the confidence to be whoever he wanted to be.

"It wasn't easy," he said, looking at Trent. "I mean, I know that I was brave and strong, but…I was also _lonely_, and I felt alienated and different and _afraid_…The New Directions were worth it – don't get me wrong – because, though they can annoying as _hell_, they're my friends and family, and my relationship with my dad has never been better, but…" he shrugged. "What happened with Karofsky…" he shook his head. "Sometimes it's not worth it, and it doesn't matter; it's up to you and what _you_ think is best for you and what makes _you_ feel comfortable."

Trent sighed, looking at the flagstone floor beneath their feet, and he heard Flint let out a long breath that gave Kurt the impression that he was doing some serious thinking – Kurt had not forgotten the way that he'd refused to look at Trent saying goodbye to his family, and he supposed it had something to do with his family not accepting him; Kurt would chase it up later – and Trent shook his head.

"I know, but…it was mainly peer pressure, you know?" he said, looking apprehensive, like he thought that Kurt would criticise him. Kurt gave him an encouraging smile. Trent sighed once more. "I had all these friends that I'd known for, like, _forever_, and they all told me that I should _not_ join the New Directions, and I wanted to, but…but I _couldn't_…I couldn't risk losing them because they were the only friends that I'd ever had in my life, and I didn't think that I could ever have other ones, and when I realised I was gay…I'd heard them taunting you, and I- I didn't know what my parents would say…I went to- I went to tell them, and I just…" he broke off, shaking his head. "Nothing came out."

"It's alright," said Flint, suddenly breaking in. "You told them eventually…Telling your parents – your _family_ – is- it's the hardest part, but you did it; that proves more about your courage than anything." Kurt looked at Flint, noting the choked up quality to his voice. He was staring at the wall, though, so Kurt couldn't look at his face. Trent shot him a questioning look that Kurt shook his head at, subtly, pulling a face that told him not to question it.

"Well…I carried on like there was nothing wrong, even though I was sure that there was something wrong with me, and it- it got _so hard_, but then…" he sighed and looked at Kurt apologetically. "My dad apologised to you?" he asked, hesitantly. Kurt nodded, frown falling onto his face. "My dad is on the board of governors," he explained in a whisper. Kurt felt his heart skip a beat; they'd overturned Karofsky's expulsion, they'd made him flee, they'd ignored a _death threat_.

"I see," he said, finding an icy quality entering his voice even though that Trent's father had apologised because he didn't doubt that Trent's father was okay with gay people _now_…now that his _son_ was gay; it was okay when it was son, but other people didn't matter.

"I swear my dad's not a bad person," said Trent in a rather desperate voice. "I only came out because he came back from the meeting, and he was- he was _furious_." Kurt's head snapped around to stare at the rather pathetic looking boy. "He was so angry that they would dismiss a death threat and give him no punishment. He kept shouting about how backwards everyone was, and how it was no different to racism and how if it was that then they'd- they'd all be getting jumpy over it…and I- I've never seen him go off on one like that, and McKinley pisses him off _a lot_…you know, it _is_ a shit hole." Kurt snorted at that, smiling at the boy as they walked outside, Flint quietly walking alongside them, listening in.

"Can't disagree with that," he muttered, and Trent gave him a nervous smile, and Kurt could feel yhe relief that they were back on friendly terms coming off him and immediately felt bad for reacting so coldly to him when he'd heard the news.

"Well, I was listening, and my mum was somewhere between agreeing with him and trying to calm him down, and I don't know…I just- I just sort of _yelled_ it at them…Needless to say, my dad stopped ranting." Kurt managed a smile at the amused look on his face. "Well, for a bit at any rate…Then they started freaking out about McKinley…" Trent rolled his eyes, but Kurt was smiling at that, glad that at least there was _someone_ supervising McKinley with some sense. "It took some time, but we agreed that I wouldn't come out, and we'd find some place safe to transfer to over Christmas." He shrugged. "Here I am…It was basically painless…except the science part of the entrance exams; those were _hard_."

Kurt burst out into spluttering laughter as they reached Harriot. Flint joined in, shaking his head in amusement about how the tale had ended. Trent really looked like he was okay; he hadn't been bullied and his family were accepting and had moved him to Dalton so that he could be out and safe. They'd moved him to Dalton so that he could be himself.

People gave them curious looks as they moved through the common room, but no one moved to interrupt them as they moved towards the staircase. Keats, who had been sitting with Vince, had given Kurt the briefest of frowns to which he smiled at and gave a look that said they'd talk later. Keats had nodded and settled back into his chair, resuming his conversation with Vince.

"You're into singing, then?" asked Flint as they climbed up to the second floor. Trent nodded, pulling a slight face.

"I mostly do it in the shower, though, so I doubt that I'm as good as any of the Warblers." Kurt and Flint shared sideways looks before giving him comforting smiles.

"You never know," said Flint. "the Warblers seem quite intimidating – I was sure that I was never going to make it, and my dad had _led_ them so there was huge pressure – but I found that once I got singing that it was like I was back in my shower; belting out the lyrics like there was no one else there at all…and I got in."

"And he got one of the leads in _Les Mis_; he played Marius and rocked the part, so you can't know until you've tried." Trent nodded, looking slightly nervous, as they got up to the third floor, and Flint pushed open the door to the room that Charles Lancaster used to occupy.

Kurt found that it was remarkably bare. The walls were empty, two beds neatly made, curtains closed, desk unused, bookshelves vacant…The only thing that showed people had ever been it was that everything scarily _clean_. It didn't look like someone had _lived_ in it, but, at the same time, it had obviously been cleaned regularly. It was sort of disturbing, like Charles had never been there at all. Trent looked similarly uncomfortable.

"How come Charles didn't have a roommate?" Kurt asked as Flint turned on the light. Flint shrugged in a casual manner.

"I think he asked to be on his own; it was what he was used to even though Lottie said it wasn't a great idea." Flint shrugged again, and Kurt nodded in understanding, looking around the room and feeling a little sad for him wanting to be isolated and on his own. Trent looked around with a frown on his face.

"Um, can I ask who this Charles guy was?" he asked. Flint sighed, heavily, and shot Kurt a look that asked him which one of them wanted to do the explaining. Kurt let out a long breath through his nose and sat down on one of the beds, looking up at Trent.

"Charles was a Warbler…I didn't know him that well, but the others did…He came from a- a-" he looked at Flint for the right words. Flint shook his head, shrugging. Kurt rolled his eyes slightly at his inability to find the words that he needed. "Basically, his family said that if he found a "_respectable_" boy than it wouldn't matter that he was gay, and he was under pressure to get engaged as soon as possible…he originally asked his best friend, but Alvin isn't gay so he turned him down…Then, he chose me, and he- he…" Kurt swallowed, wondering why, to his ears, what he had to say sounded almost _stupid_? "He- he _forced_ himself onto me…_kissed_ me whilst he held me against the lockers…He was expelled because he caused me physical harm…It's- I don't think he was that bad a person, but he was…he was messed up in the head, I think…His sister seems nice, though."

Trent blinked, looking shocked, and then glanced around the room with a mildly uncomfortable look about him. Flint walked over and put a hand on his shoulder in a gesture of comfort whilst Kurt took a couple of deep breaths in, trying to get rid of the swirling panic in his chest brought on by all the memories of Karofsky and Charles.

"It's alright…Dalton's normally a lot better than that…We have a zero tolerance policy for both harassment and violence…It's a really safe place to be." Trent nodded, but Kurt could tell that he was mildly overwhelmed by everything.

"How do you feel?" asked Kurt, looking up at him with concerned eyes. Trent shrugged, frown falling onto his face in a manner that suggested that he didn't quite know how he felt.

"Um… can I have a moment?" he asked, indicating towards the bathroom. Both Kurt and Flint nodded, instantly. Trent hurried off into the bathroom, closing the door behind him, and Flint turned to Kurt with a questioning expression on his face. Kurt sighed and got to his feet.

"He's just left all his friends and family…He's in a new school whether the only person that he _vaguely_ knows is me, and that's only from a serious distance and lots of whispering. Now, we've just told him that he replaced a gay student who abused someone…It's a bit of a mess, and I can't begin to imagine how he must feel after all that…He might not have been bullied, but he's still going through a hard time." Flint nodded, looking around in concern.

"Okay," he said, checking his watch. Kurt stared at him, eyes narrowing because there was something not right with Flint; he could _feel_ the tension and anxiety being exuded from him.

"What's wrong?" asked Kurt, bluntly, tilting his head and arching an eyebrow when Flint blinked and pulled a face that said that he didn't understand what Kurt was saying. He continued to stare at him in disbelief until Flint sighed, shoulders sagging.

"I can't do this, Kurt…I'm gay, but…how can I offer any of this when I don't-" he broke off in exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose. Kurt stared at him, patiently, waiting for him to talk to Kurt about whatever was wrong with him. "Kurt, you know that I said that I wasn't- wasn't confident with my sexuality, or something?" Kurt thought back to when he'd found out that Flint was gay and then nodded.

"Yeah, I remember." Flint sniffed, rubbing his eyes slightly.

"I never- I never came out." Kurt looked at him, blinking in complete shock because- did that mean- did that mean someone – someone at _Dalton_ – had outed him? He could feel his mouth fall open slightly in shock, staring at him in disbelief. Flint sucked in a huge breath.

"I mean, I came out to my _close_ friends, but the rest of the school – my _parents_; _grandparents_; _whole family_ – I was outed to them…" he took a huge breath. "and my- my father, and my grandfather, they hold that against me. I'm a coward for not coming out; it's the reason I'm a failure, it's- it's- it's…" he broke off, taking a huge breath, and Kurt could feel anger rushing through him, drowning out the sadness, because there was a limit – a _line_ – that was never crossed; should _never _be crossed, and someone had done that…someone at _Dalton_. Kurt, at McKinley, when his _life_ was in _danger_ had kept his mouth shut! So why couldn't someone at Dalton do that?

"Why?" he demanded, furiously. "_Who_?" Injustice was swirling through him, pumped around his body as his heart pounded with anger, and he could feel his whole body tense as he prepared to tear into the person – _people_ – that had done this to make them _pay_.

"And- and I _know_ that they wouldn't accept me even if I had come out," continued Flint as if Kurt had never interrupted, sounding like he was close to bursting into tears. "but I- seeing Trent with his parents in the foyer, _knowing_ that that's only happening because he came out…it hurts. It hurts to think things could be different if I was just a little bit stronger…but I'm not…I'm _weak_…"

Kurt stared at Flint, watching him as he put a hand over his eyes, squeezing them shut in an effort to stop the tears, and didn't know whether to embrace the wreck of a boy in front of him or to rage and storm around Dalton until he'd found the person responsible and torn their head from their body and then go and do the same to Flint's family.

He took a couple of deep breaths in through his nose, exhaling heavily, and clenched his jaw tightly together, fighting the almost overwhelming urge to rampage around Dalton like a caveman in search of a petty revenge for damages done. Reaching forward, he rested both his hands onto Flint's trembling shoulders and remained there for a moment, applying a gentle pressure to let him know that Kurt was still there before him and ready to comfort him.

"Flint, you are a lot of things," he began, slowly. "but you are not weak." Flint snorted, looking at the ground, but Kurt shook his head firmly. "Look at me," he commanded. Flint resisted, dropping his head down even further and breathing heavily. "_Look_ at me!" he repeated, even more force in his voice. Slowly, Flint looked up. Kurt stared into glistening, hurt, eyes and felt the strongest urge to burst into tears because this wasn't right; it was like there was a tiny child standing before Kurt, trembling with poorly suppressed fear as to what punishment they might get for disobedience.

Kurt let out a deep breath, removing his hands from Flint's shoulders to drag them down his face in a sign of weary frustration as he took a step back. Gathering himself together and still breathing deeply, he reassessed Flint; he was shaking, eyes wide with a fearful yet expectant look on his face – thank God, Trent was taking so long in the bathroom.

"Flint, I- I can't believe that someone at Dalton would do that to you, but I don't think you're weak. I think that you've been subjected to something _terrible_, but suffering as a result of that doesn't make you _weak_; it makes you _human_." Flint stared at him for a second, face twisting through a myriad of emotions that were too fleeting for Kurt to label, before snorting and rolling his eyes.

"I hate being human," he said, pulling an annoyed expression. Kurt let out a snort of laughter, smile jumping onto his face at the statement, which he hadn't exactly been expecting. Flint shot him a mildly wry grin, rolling his eyes again. "I'm serious; I would much rather be Vulcan or whatever." Kurt shot him a disparaging look, arching an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Okay Spock," he said as the door to the bathroom opened, and Trent came walking out, blowing his nose on a handkerchief that he promptly put up his sleeve. Kurt suppressed the urge to wrinkle his nose at the fact that he had a snotty tissue up his sleeve, choosing to keep his smile on his face.

"Alright?" asked Flint, and Trent nodded, giving them both a grin.

"Yeah just- I've never really been this far away from home; all my friends live round the corner, _literally_…It's kind of scary." Both Flint and Kurt gave him kind smiles, telling him that it was perfectly natural to feel homesick – Kurt had felt absolutely awful on his first night.

"Of course it is," said Flint, checking his watch. "but we need to get to assembly." Trent nodded, and Flint began to lead the way towards the hall. Kurt fell into step next to Trent and looked him over, noting that his shoulders were rather tense and the gait of his walk was very strict.

"Dalton's a little hard to settle into," he said, feeling that he needed to give him some reassurance whilst Flint was preoccupied with his own problems, which were very serious and Kurt was not about to forget anytime soon; though he knew that the other boys would know all about it, and Trent had to be his priority.

"Really?" asked Trent, looking at him with an extremely apprehensive expression.

"_But_," he said, continuing with his previous sentence like Trent hadn't spoken. "I had a lot of people around me that supported me. Yes, they forgot that I didn't know things and so carried on like I wasn't there, but I kind of get, now, that they were just trying to include me." Trent frowned, and Kurt sighed. "I came here under a pretty bad cloud, and I think that they were trying to not remind me that I was new… It wasn't a good tactic, but they meant well – they always meant well." Trent nodded, small smile on his face at the news because there were very few people at McKinley that would _always_ mean well; not even the New Directions could boast that given all the back-stabbing, double-crossing and bitching they did.

"Okay, I'll remember that," he said as they joined the crowds that were filing into the hall in a very orderly manner, talking and laughing about things that had happened in the holidays and things that they were looking forward to that term.

Flint led them to some seats relatively near the back and sat down next to a very tall boy – Kurt couldn't work out whether he was the same height as Ros – and his friend, who Kurt recognised as the boy that Keats sat next to in history, but who Kurt didn't know and presumed Keats wasn't exactly friends with…Also, Kurt could have sworn that he wore glasses, but that could just be Kurt confusing him with someone.

"Trent," said Flint, leaning forward in his seat. "these are Dylan Williamson and Alex Kier-" so it _was_ the guy from History. "-they're in our year, but Dylan is-" Before Flint could finish the sentence, the lights around the hall faded out slightly, and the stage became illuminated as Hammonds strode out to a lectern that had been step up on the stage.

"Welcome back boys," said Hammonds into the expectant silence that had automatically fallen over the boys when their headmaster had walked onto the stage. "I'm glad to hear that those of you that came had fun on New Year…" He trailed off as amused titters filled the hall. Kurt chuckled along with the majority of the boys, guessing that Hammonds had been clued in about the destruction they'd caused. "and I want to say to the two new boys that we've got joining us-" Kurt felt Trent stiffen a little bit beside him and shot him a smile that said to relax. "-that I hope you enjoy your time here, and I don't have to tell the rest of you to look out for them." There was a silence as Hammonds looked around the room in a deliberate fashion.

"Now, before I get onto my main speech, I have my little recap. I want to congratulate the fencing team for beating Garfield and continuing their unbeaten streak into a _fourth_ year; let's set a new record, boys. I want to congratulate the Warblers and gymnasts for their victory at Sectionals and progressing onto Regionals. The play was amazing, as always, and I want to thank you for all the work you put into that whether you were on stage or in the pit or worked on the technical side…It was wonderful. I want to commend all the Footballers, and Kurt-" Kurt blinked, shocked by the mention of his name. "-for your performances against Garfield at the Football game; we're getting there…um…Well done all the soloists, and all the performers, in the concert, and the artists that won – it was another fantastic evening. That all being said, let's keep this going…There's a mass of sporting events coming up; we've got a lot of Garfield games so let's keep making that point; it doesn't matter who you are; if can play, you play."

Kurt smiled at the speech, nodding along to his final point because Dalton would only be Dalton if it focused so hard of treating everyone the same. Taking a look at Trent, he saw that his mouth had fallen open at the multitude of things that they'd succeeded in. He stifled a smile and fixed his gaze back onto Hammonds, who had been waiting for the muttering to die down.

"So, now that that's all done and dusted I have one more announcement to make; the press." Kurt noticed the way their Headmaster's face tensed at the mention of the paparazzi, disgust briefly riddling his features. "You are _not_ allowed to make contact with them with information in regards to _any_ of the students of Dalton. If we catch you, you _will_ be expelled and you _will_ be charged for invading their privacy…We will _not_ be lenient." He gave the room a steely glare. "You have been warned." There was an ominous silence after that in which Trent leant into Kurt.

"Why is he saying that? Um…is that in anyway normal?" Kurt shook his head, leaning into him too.

"No, there are a load of people that have famous parents; my friends' dads are P. and Rupert Thompson…you know the rest of that family," Trent nodded, wide eyed. "And there are _five_ celebrities here; Daley Kellerman, Morrison Barringer-Tanner, Cameron Gaylin and QT." Trent stared at him in disbelief, and Kurt nodded. Flint leant across.

"Unfortunately for us only QT are in our house." Trent frowned. "They're not very nice," said Flint with a look that said he would expand later as Hammonds was clearing his throat, bringing the muttering and whispers to an end.

"Okay," he said, putting his hand against the lectern. "let's get down to business." Silence fell instantly. "There have been instances, smattered throughout my time here, that have been of great concern, but something that happened last tern really got me…There was an _incident_ last term that I know you all know about, but I think that I need to talk about it all the same…" Trent looked at him, eyebrows arching to ask whether this was Charles. Kurt nodded once, looking back at Hammonds. "Firstly, I want to stress the idea that if you are put in a situation where you are hurt or threatened or uncomfortable or feel like you have been violated or insulted or _anything_ in anyway, I want you to know that you can come to _anyone_. I feel that we got lucky that we were told straight away, and I need you to know that you can come to me, your head of house, your teachers, your head boy, your prefects, your _friends_…Speak to _someone_, and if you are that someone than _please_ report it…This is not a breach of trust; this could be what _saves_ someone."

"Whenever I think about this, I think back to my own time at Dalton," Kurt blinked at that in mild surprise, having not exactly known that Hammonds was an ex-Dalton boy, but not really surprised to find out that he was. "and my best friend…I'm sure that at least half of you know this story, and you're probably sick of it, but my best friend was gay, and back then were less openly gay people on campus, and he couldn't come out to me, and he felt like a fraud; he self-harmed, took drugs, and tried to _kill_ himself…" Kurt felt his eyes go wide open, shocked that Hammonds was telling them this – had told _many_ students this – and incredibly horrified that that had happened. "Now, I got lucky, and I found him, and he was fine…but the problem is _it was luck_. Luck is great, don't get me wrong, but we need more than that; we need trust." He sighed.

"Now, the thing is, a lot of you here are under pressure from parents and family, and at Dalton we try and take that away, but sometimes it isn't enough." Kurt swallowed, knowing that this was about Charles and _why_ he had done what he had. "Sometimes that pressure is to get good grades, but sometimes it's _more_. For Charles, it was the pressure to get _married_. That pressure was piled on because he was gay, and his sister was engaged, and it got the better of him; he tried to _force_ it…Now, I don't feel the blame lies with him; I feel that it's on his parents… and on _me_." Kurt blinked, staring at his Headmaster in disbelief.

"I feel like you are all my responsibility, and when a situation like that comes up I feel like I've failed every student involved. Now, if you are under any kind of pressure like that than I want you to please tell someone. Tell someone, and we can try and help you. Dalton is here to educate you, _yes_, but it's here to help. So many of you here have come for safety…_sanctuary_, and we wouldn't be a very good sanctuary if we didn't supply help and support…And if you're a friend, and you hear this, you might brush it aside, but _please_ ask. I never asked when my friend got pale and thin, and I didn't know until too late, so, even if it's nothing, please _ask_…It's better safe than sorry…" he gave the hall a tight lipped smile. "I wish you all a good term; stay safe, stay happy and stay _Dalton_…" He gave them a proper smile as they all chuckled. "Alright, off to you lessons." They all began to get to their feet, a huge wave of boys beginning to trample their feet, almost drowning out their Headmaster's final words. "Oh, and I like you boys and all, but try to stay out of my office." With that last laugh echoing around the hall, Hammonds made his way off the stage to the applause of the whole student body.

Kurt filed out of the hall behind Trent, who immediately fell to the side when they were out in the open, and looked around to make sure that Flint was following them. He could see his friend conducting a whispered conversation with Dylan, whose hand was rubbing soothing circles onto Flint's shoulder, and Kurt would have thought that they were talking about what he and Kurt had been talking about if whatever Dylan was saying wasn't making Flint giggle. He gave Trent a small smile, telling him that they should wait, and then turned to face him properly.

"So, first impressions?" he asked, and Trent shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Um…if I said that I completely bought every word that Mr Hammonds said, would I be a fool?" Kurt let out a wry laugh, understanding that, after McKinley, it was a little bit hard to take the "_we care_" thing seriously.

"No," he said, shooting him a kindly smile. "you wouldn't be a fool; Dalton is really like that…Figgins was just a crap Principal." Trent nodded, looking around at the other boys in a mildly nervous fashion. Kurt took a step towards him and put a gloved hand on his shoulder. "You'll be fine. When Flint finishes his conversation, we'll take you to your first lesson and find some boys to keep an eye on you, and if you need anything, just like he said, you can come to me…to anyone." Trent took a deep breath, nodding.

"I never thought it would be this scary, you know? It's just- I'm finding it hard to forget that I've never really made friends; the only friends I had were people I met when I was, like, _four_ and our parents got us all together because we lived in the same area, you know? I don't- I just-" he ran a hand through his hair looking worried. "I just realised that I have, like, no social skills." Kurt gave him a smile.

"It's fine. Trust me when I say that these boys talk _a lot_." Trent nodded, managing a wider smile, and Flint came wandering over with an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry about that," he said, looking really very sorry for holding them up. Trent shook his head, nervous smile returning to his face. "Alright, do you have your time table?" Trent nodded and pulled the time table from his pocket. Kurt and Flint both peered at it, and Kurt saw that he had Chemistry with Doctor Booth. "Oh that's good," said Flint, giving Trent a comforting smile. "Doctor Booth is your head of house, and he's our Chemistry teacher – he's really good. Come on, we better get you to his lab or else you'll be late."

The three of them had to all but _sprint_ to the Chemistry lab – well, Flint jogging as fast as he could – to prevent Trent from being late to his first lesson. It left no time for talking and as Kurt was dashing up the stairs, he suddenly realised that his school bag was still sitting back in Franklin as he'd assumed that he would have time to get it. The only thing that stopped him from freaking out about it was the fact that Flint was also bag-less.

Kurt made it to the classroom first, Trent two paces behind him and Flint bringing up the rear as he gasped and panted. All the Sophomores that were queued up outside, waiting to be let in, turned to look at them. They broke into grins at the sight of Trent, some rolling their eyes at the sight of Flint struggling to breathe.

"Flint," said Dom, dumping his bag onto the floor. "when are going to learn that you can't run? I mean, _seriously_?" Flint stood upright, glowering at the Warbler before blinking and standing upright.

"Dom, Al, this is Trent, could you two watch out for him." Kurt looked at the two younger Warblers as they both nodded on instinct, but Kurt was more focused on the fact that Al really _did_ look like crap; he was really pale and tired looking. "He's thinking of auditioning for Warblers so…" Trent looked marginally alarmed by the prospect of what Flint had said as the wheezing Warbler guided him over to their side, but Flint gave him a smile that said it was worth the try.

"We'll keep an eye on him," promised Dom, and all the other boys around them hummed in agreement as they nodded their heads. Flint took in a gasping breath and made his way back to Kurt's side. The two of them made their way back down the hallway as sound of talking resumed.

"So…" he said as they began to hurry back down the spiral staircase. "who's that Dylan guy?" he asked, giving Flint a mildly suggestive look because he didn't think that he had ever seen Flint giggle like that before. Flint went faintly pink, picking up on Kurt's not so subtle suggestion. Then he shrugged.

"I don't know," Kurt arched an eyebrow at that, and Flint began to blush a little bit more. "_I mean_," he said, looking embarrassed by his mistake. "that he's just a friend that I have – he offered his support to me in Freshman year, and we chat in the gym from time to time, and in lessons…You remember when I walked out on New Year's day?" he asked, and Kurt nodded. "Well, Blaine went after to me, obviously, but then Dylan came up and said that Sebastian was looking for him so he went, and Dylan stayed with me, and we just _talked_…We talked for the rest of the day…It was just weird." He gave Kurt a shrug, half smile on his face. Kurt stared at him, assessing the way that he seemed far more relaxed and happier.

"And do you like him?" Flint looked at him, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly.

"Of course I like him; he's my friend." Kurt rolled his eyes, huffing mildly at Flint's pointless evasiveness, and then arched an eyebrow.

"You _know_ that that is not what I meant." Flint sighed, putting his hands in his pockets and giving Kurt a mild shrug.

"I don't really know. I just- I like the way he makes me smile, you know? He makes me feel really easy. I love my friends, no doubt, but…there's just something different about being around him…'cause he doesn't know everything, there's just something different about the tension being not there." Kurt gave him an appraising look, not disagreeing with what he said.

"So is he or is he not _The Only Exception_?" he asked, just for clarification because he was mildly confused because it sounded like Dylan and Flint had only bonded after New Year whilst Flint had been singing _The Only Exception_ before Christmas. Flint went pink.

"Um…well…you see…" he stared at Kurt, eyes very wide, and then darted off towards Harriot. Before Kurt could quite comprehend the fact that Flint had bolted from his presence when Kurt had asked who he was crushing on, Flint had vanished inside his house. Kurt blinked once, completely taken aback by his decision to flee, and then made his way over to Franklin, shaking his head in bemusement.

_Well, that was interesting…I have no idea why he did that…unless…No, he couldn't be- could he? That wouldn't make sense…He's completely normal around me, and I'm not completely oblivious like Blaine so I would notice it…I wonder why he decided to bolt though. He must know that I wouldn't tell anyone… It might just be really embarrassing…like that Herman guy…Or maybe it __**is**__ Dylan…or, alternatively, he just didn't want me to tease him, and, given our friends, I can't exactly blame him…_

* * *

Blaine hated the first lesson of term. He hated it – not because it was French because French was a doddle – because assembly always killed his brain. Hammonds always said things that were deep and important, and it had the habit of short-circuiting Blaine's brain, and this year was no exception. What Hammonds had said about pressure and talking to someone had really got to Blaine. Blaine had only told Thad about his dad and the threat about Kinzie, and he was now worried that Thad might tell someone. Blaine knew that Thad might think it was the right thing to do, but… Blaine needed Thad to keep it a secret. Dalton couldn't help him with this; no one could.

Glancing at Thad, he saw that the Warbler councillor was busy writing on a piece of paper and not focusing on the lesson. He could see that Madam Marchand was busy talking to a couple of boys at the front about something in French. He could hear David groaning as he attempted to understand what was going on and reckoned now was as good a time as any to silently communicate with Thad. Tearing out a sheet of paper, he picked up his pen and wrote;

_Thad, please don't do what Hammonds said.-Blaine_

and passed it onto Thad's desk, making sure that David, as opposed to their teacher, didn't notice what he was doing. Glancing back at Thad, he saw that the boy hadn't noticed that Blaine had put the piece of paper on his desk. Rolling his eyes in something between amusement and despair, he poked Thad with the end of his pen. Thad jumped, looking up, and Blaine indicated to the piece of paper with a frown. Thad stared at him with a look of confusion before picking it up. Blaine watched, feeling intensely nervous, as Thad read it, frown in place, before picking up his pen to write a response.

_I wasn't going to; you asked me to keep it a secret. However, I think you should tell Sebastian. You know that he would want you to tell him – remember your first night.-Thad_

Blaine stared down at the response, biting down on his upper lip, feeling guilty, sick, scared and relieved. He was glad that Thad hadn't been planning to tell anyone about what Blaine had said, but what he had said about Sebastian worried Blaine more. He knew that Thad was right about Sebastian wanting to know about this, but it was also different. Sebastian couldn't help him in the way that he had when Blaine had first come here; no one could change the situation. Also, it had been Sebastian's _job_ to look after Blaine; they were boyfriends now, that meant what they had was different to what they'd had at the beginning.

_I know what you mean_, he began to write in response, _but I can't do it. I need you to trust me in this, Thad. Sebastian can't do anything about it so there's no point worrying him.-B_

He handed it back to Thad and watched him scan it with narrowed eyes. He bit down on the inside of his lip once more, trying to fight the overwhelming feeling of panic. David had dropped his head down into his French textbook and was grumbling and groaning about how much he hated foreign languages.

_I do trust you.-T_

Blaine blinked down at the piece of paper, feeling his lips turn up in a grin at that because his secret was safe. Whatever was going to come of this situation, Blaine knew that he had nothing to fear as far as Thad was concerned. Thad would keep his secret and try to help him because that was Thad did. He just had to worry about the Warblers and Regionals.

"Blaine," said David in a whiny tone of voice as he raised his head from his book, having decided that he wasn't learning anything by banging his forehead into the text, and Blaine hurriedly stuffed the piece of paper away before David could spot it.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning away from Thad and the front to focus on his friend. "What?" David sighed, running a hand over his head.

"Do you think that it's possible my mum could be depressed?" Blaine arched an eyebrow, not entirely sure where that had come from and unable to understand why David would think that _Blaine_ would be able to know whether his mother was depressed.

"Um…I dunno…what makes you think that?" David heaved a sigh, picking up his pen and spinning it around his hand.

"She doesn't want to socialise, she's not eating, she's not really sleeping properly either – she's taking these pills, and I don't know what they do…She doesn't really talk to me, and she's not interested in dating _anyone_…I mean, it's like she thinks that there's no real point bothering anymore." Blaine swallowed, beginning to understand why David was asking _him_ this. He shrugged.

"I suppose…is this because of her and Adam?" David pulled a face, running a hand over his scalp as he thought.

"I- I don't know…I don't think so because Daley said that Adam's the only person she really _talks_ to when they're on set – she doesn't talk to him or Harper or any of the other actors or people around." He looked over at Blaine with a worried, and Blaine sighed.

"I guess it's _possible_…I mean, it kind of sounds like it, but…" he shrugged once more. "it's kind of hard to say if you don't know what's bothering her. Maybe you could get Adam to ask." David stared at him in a mildly condescending manner.

"You don't think we haven't already tried that?" he demanded. "Every – _friggin'_ – one of us has asked her! For fuck's sake, _Alex_ popped round to interrogate her, but we've got _nothing_! She won't tell us anything! She just makes polite small talk and vanishes the moment she sees an opportunity to end the conversation! She _won't talk to us __**at all**_!" Blaine felt his eyes widen as David practically _screamed_ the last bit of the sentence at him. Every eye in the French class turned to the African-American boy, who was taking deep breaths and attempting to vanish from sight.

"David, mon cher êtes vous d'accord?" _"David, my dear, are you alright?"_ David swallowed and shot Madam Marchand an apologetic smile.

"Oui, Madam," _"Yes, Madam,"_ he said, shooting her his most charming smile. The rest of the class stared at him with raised eyebrows and wide eyes as David sunk back into his chair, trying to vanish from view as Thad stared between them with an arched eyebrow that questioned their sanities. Blaine began to chuckle to himself as the class turned back to the front, and David scowled. "Shut up!" he said, glaring at both Blaine and Thad, who was somehow managing to project a baffled yet patronisingly-disdainful air onto David just by raising one eyebrow.

"Vous êtes un idiot," _"You are an idiot,"_ said Blaine in his best Sebastian-esque superior voice. "Même moi, je ne crie pas dans la classe!" _"Even I don't yell in class!"_ David shot him a withering glare and stabbed the picture of a random French boy in their textbook with his scissors.

"Je déteste français!" _"I hate French!" _he moaned, much louder than he intended to. Every eye swivelled back to him. Madam Marchand stared at him, eyebrows arching in a dangerous fashion as David groaned out loud and smashed his face back into the desk.

"Pourquoi?" _"Why?"_ she questioned, still with her eyebrows arched in a menacing fashion, and David, raising his head from his desk, gulped. Blaine pressed his lips together to stop himself from bursting out into hysterical laughter as David screwed his face up and tried to think a way to phrase it that wouldn't get him murdered by the Frenchwoman at the front of the classroom.

"Um…il est difficile…" _"Um…it's difficult…" _he said, faintly, completely terrified, and Blaine screwed up his face up as hard as he could and clenched his fists so that he didn't burst out into hysterical laughter. "J'aime l'anglais…parce que…j'aime la reine…" _"I like English…because…I like the queen…"_ There was a moment of stunned silence in the classroom as everyone stared at David, either silently questioning whether he knew what he had just said made no sense or trying to work out whether he had _genuinely_ just said what he had.

Blaine looked at Thad, whose eyebrows were still arched, and attempted to hold back his laughter. Thad's face had gone rather red, his lips were pressed firmly together, and Blaine knew that he, too, was seconds from bursting and beginning to laugh. Blaine looked away because eye contact just made his desire to laugh even stronger and waited for David to say something else.

"J'aime la reine pace qu'elle est vielle," _"I like the queen because she is old,"_ Blaine blinked once, made eye contact with Thad, and lost all self-restraint as they made "_what the fuck?_" eyes at each other. They both let out loud cackles of laughter, and Blaine slumped forward over his desk as he began to howl with laughter at what David had said. He could hear the rest of the class chuckling, and Madam Marchand was giggling over the top at his words. "Je déteste français parce que je vous hais tous – en particulier Blaine et Thad!" _"I hate French because I hate you all – especially Blaine and Thad!"_

* * *

"I'm still pouting!" said David, folding his arms and glaring at Blaine as Kurt walked into Warbler hall. Kurt looked between David and Blaine with an arched eyebrow as the former sat in his seat with an angry frown and the latter collapsed onto a sofa with laughter.

"Why are you pouting?" asked Kurt, dropping down next Blaine. Blaine doubled up in hysterical laughter whilst the other Juniors – exempting Flint who had gone to find Trent – collapsed into seats around them and began to laugh as well.

"In French," said Blaine, reigning in his laughter as much as he could. "David said, very loudly, that he hated French!" Kurt began to smile in disbelief, arching his eyebrow once more as he looked over at David, who was still pouting. "He then proceeded to say that he hated French because it was hard, and he liked English because of the Queen-" Kurt joined in the snorts of laughter at that. "- and he liked the Queen because she was old…Oh, and he also hates our entire French class, especially me and Thad."

Kurt shook his head, smiling in amusement at what David had said because he completely mucked up the language and the country, as David let out a huffy noise and banged his fists against the table like a two year old. Thad, who was sitting at the other end of the council table and had his phone balanced on the table, snatched it up as he snorted quite loudly at that, and the other boys began to giggle.

Before they could say anything more, though, Wes came striding into the room, flanked by Sebastian and Liam, and a general silence fell as the leader of the Warblers took his seat and surveyed the group of students with an intense look, doing a head count.

"Is Flint with Trent?" asked Wes, noting that the Harriot boy was the only one that was missing. Kurt nodded, and Wes nodded to himself before picking up the gavel and banging it. "Alright, this meeting is very short. Firstly, we're going to only have a couple of rehearsals before we break for the mad sports time so we're not going to get into any serious kind of training for Regionals." There was a round of nodding, and Kurt wondered exactly how crazy this time of the year was with sports fixtures. "So, with that in mind, we need to get our impromptu performance done and dusted as soon as. By that I mean next week. So, any of you thinking of applying for auditions be warned; you've got _two days_ to prep."

"_Two days_!" yelped Blaine as Kurt's mouth fell open. _Two days_! Of course, Kurt was going to audition, but he hadn't thought of a song yet! What was he going to _do_?

"I don't know what you're complaining about, Blaine, you're default lead even if you bomb it." Blaine glared at David as Wes cleared his throat, silencing the chuckles and murmurs from the Warblers.

"Yes, two days, which is why you need to sing something you know, but not anything we've seen before. Also, apply to Luc by the end of the day, and by that I mean you've got until the end of dinner. He'll give the list of all the applicants to us, and tomorrow we'll have a quick meeting to clarify if you've qualified, and we'll offer our nomination if they're not on the list."

Kurt ran a hand through his hair, mind whirring because what did he sing? It was too late to try and do a real performance with props, and there also wasn't much room in Warbler hall for all of that. However, he needed to put himself forward as their best option, and the uniqueness of his voice was the only way to do that so it really had be a show tune or something of the sort…Something that no one else could sing in the same way that he could.

"That's it, I think," said Wes, looking around the room to see if anyone had anything that they wanted to say. There was a silence, and Wes broke out into a grin. "Stop looking so freaked out all of you!" he exclaimed with a grin. "I've been a Warbler long enough to know that we've got this." He grinned at the rest of the group, and Kurt took mild comfort from the way that Wes met his gaze and gave him a small wink. "Alright, meeting adjourned." He slammed the gavel down and noise began to filter back into the room. "Good luck."

Kurt let out a long breath, looking at Blaine, who gave him a weak smile and patted his shoulder. Kurt sighed, still running through all the possible songs that he could do, and hooked his bag onto his shoulder. He fell into step next to Blaine, who was gnawing on his bottom lip, and Jeff and Nick, who also looked like they were in serious thought.

_They can't __**all**__ be auditioning, can they? I reckon I could beat them all, but it's easy to get lost in all the different songs and forget someone's performance…_

"Kurt!" Kurt looked around and saw that Flint and Trent were waiting outside Warbler hall. He smiled at the others and walked over to them.

"Hey," he said, smiling at Trent, who looked much better than he had that morning, and noticed that Dom, Al and Warren were hanging around in the corridor. "how were your lessons?" Trent pulled a face.

"This place is _way_ harder than I was anticipating…Those exams didn't prepare me at all," Kurt laughed and nodded in agreement because Dalton's exams were trying, if the end of term ones were like the entrance tests, but they definitely didn't compare to being thrown head first into a lesson.

"You'll get used to it, and everyone is pretty ready to help explain things and share their notes." Trent nodded and managed a stronger, if still nervous, smile.

"We should go in and talk to the council now, if you really want to apply." Trent bit down on the inside of his lip and looked between Kurt and Flint. Kurt gave him an encouraging smile whilst Flint wandered over to Warbler hall, probably to check that the council were still inside.

"Just do what you want," said Kurt, reaching over to put a hand on his shoulder. Trent took a deep breath in and looked around the corridor as Flint moved back to their sides.

"I want to do it…It's just- I haven't auditioned for anything since the _Middle School_ _play_ – and that was the last time I sang a solo!" he took in a huge breath, eyes slightly wide, and Kurt had to admit that if that was him he'd probably be freaking out. Each successful audition and solo helped to build up a reserve of confidence and leaving something alone for several _years_ was, naturally, going to deplete that reserve.

"So, into the lion's mouth or not?" asked Flint. Trent took a deep breath, rubbing his hands together and closing his eyes in thought.

"I want to do it," he said, nodding, and Kurt and Flint broke out into simultaneous grins.

"Alright then," said Flint, clapping his hands down onto Trent's shoulders. "let's go." Kurt walked alongside Trent as they made their way back to Warbler hall, leaving Al, Dom and Warren in the hallway where they had made no move to join in the conversation.

"…I'm saying that we should just consider the option!" Kurt was mildly surprised to find that Wes was arguing with David from where they sat at the council table. Thad was watching the disagreement with narrowed eyes, and Sebastian and Liam were leaning against sofas and listening in.

"I don't think that it would work! We're just getting used to having a duet!" Kurt looked over at Flint with a quirked eyebrow. Flint shrugged and cleared his throat. All eyes turned to them. Sebastian arched an eyebrow, Liam frowned, Thad began to count on his fingers (Kurt had no idea what that was about) and Wes and David shared looks.

"This is Trent," said Kurt, rather unnecessarily because the silence was awkward. "He wants to audition for the Warblers." There was a silence in which Liam nodded, Sebastian rolled his eyes in a "_duh_" manner, and Wes leaned back in his chair, looking at his deputies.

"That's great!" said David, sending Trent a wide grin. "We're just going to have to put some serious thought into when we audition you because it would be good if you could perform with us next week, but the timing would be tight." Wes was nodding along.

"You don't happen to have a song that you'd feel comfortable performing tomorrow, do you?" asked Wes, looking vaguely hopeful. Kurt looked at Trent with a frown as a pulled a face in thought. Sebastian arched an eyebrow at Wes.

"As head boy, I'm not sure that I can advocate that kind of pressure." Wes held up his hands.

"I'm not saying that you have to, we could do it after the impromptu. It's just the goddamn sports break that we've got."

"Well, there's _one_ song that I think might be good enough," offered Trent in an apprehensive voice, and Kurt had to admire his guts for suggesting that he got up and sung for them all tomorrow given that it had been _years_ since he last sang a solo. There was a pause in which the three councillors looked between each other, clearly making up their minds.

"How does this sound?" asked Wes. "You sing to the council tomorrow, and if we think you're good enough we'll get the Warblers to vote, and then you can sing for them…If it's not, we'll put the audition on hold, and you can do it later. Sound good?" Trent bit down on his bottom lip, looked between Kurt and Flint before nodding.

"Yeah, that sounds really good." Wes smiled at him, grin splitting across his face. David did the same whilst Thad gave him a small smile before his face fell back into a frown over whatever things Thad frowned about.

"Alright," said Wes. "we'll see you tomorrow in here…You can sit in the corner whilst we run over some other stuff, and Flint-" Flint blinked and looked away from where he was examining Trent to meet Wes' eyes. "-solo applications need to be in to Luc by the end of dinner and auditions are in two days." Flint's mouth fell open, eyes going wide, and Wes gave him a grin. "Take it easy, boys," he said, giving them a wave that said the conversation was over. Kurt smiled at the Warblers left in the room before turning around and walking away with Trent and Flint.

"Are you auditioning?" asked Dom the moment they stepped from the room, leaping forward. Trent nodded, looking excited.

"Yeah, tomorrow."

"_Tomorrow_!" exclaimed Warren, looking at Dom with wide eyes, and Al's eyebrows leapt up his forehead as, for the first time, he looked engaged in the conversation. "Have you got a song?" Trent nodded, walking on instinct away from Kurt and Flint to the boys in his year.

"Yeah…I was singing it quite a bit over Christmas so I hope that it's good. I don't really know, though, because only my _parents_ have heard it, and I don't think I've ever heard them criticise my singing, which is great, but it means that I've got no idea how good I am in reality…"

The conversation faded as he walked away with the Warbler Sophomores down the corridor. Kurt turned to Flint with a grin, glad that Trent was fitting in so easily and making friends without having to try. If there was one thing that Kurt hadn't wanted at all was for Trent to struggle in the same way that Kurt had in slotting into Dalton.

"He makes it look effortless, doesn't he?" said Flint, walking so that he was standing shoulder to shoulder with Kurt. Kurt nodded, smiling even wider at that. "He was chatting to Warren about Miles Davis, or something, like he'd known him his whole life when I went to see him at the end of the day."

"That's great," said Kurt, letting out a long breath in relief. "I mean, I was kind of worried that his first couple of days would be like _mine_, but I think it's going better…"

"Well, the situations are _really_ different," said Flint, giving him a sympathetic smile as they began to walk away from Warbler hall – ignoring the raised voices that suggested that there was trouble in paradise as far as Wes and David's rule of the Warblers went. "I mean, you'd been through a terrible time, and you were put completely on edge by the scholarship thing – not to the mention the fact that our year is the only one that has a giant divide in it, which you managed to stumble right into the middle of."

"I suppose," said Kurt and then glanced at Flint. He looked better than this morning. "Look, I'm sorry if I upset you." Flint's face turned into one of confusion, and Kurt rolled his eyes. "You fled my presence this morning…"

"Oh," said Flint, blushing. "I'm sorry about that…I just- I get kind of jumpy about it…Um, as you may have noticed we tease each other mercilessly, and I- well- let's say, they're not quite as blind as Blaine so it would be- it would be awkward if they knew, and I- I just…" he faltered, going really pink in embarrassment, and Kurt rolled his eyes, taking pity on the flustered boy.

"It's alright…I understand, of course…You don't have to say if you don't want to. I was simply curious to know if Dylan was _The Only Exception_." Flint looked around, clearly worried about whether their conversation might be overheard by someone.

"He's- he's not," admitted Flint, once he was sure that there was no one near them. "but…but I think I might like him in a- in a more-than-friends-way, but I- I just don't know…" he looked up at Kurt, confusion plain in his eyes, and Kurt sighed and shrugged.

"It's hard," he admitted. "because whenever you're around _them_-" and there was no question which person he was talking about. "-you're constantly trying to work out whether they like you, and you get lost in how much you love them, but…" he turned to Flint with a serious expression on his face. "I'm really happy with Keats; he says the most ridiculous things, and he makes me feel so special…All that pain that you get about knowing that they'd never look at you that, it just vanishes…" he looked at his friend, who was biting on his bottom lip in a nervous manner. "If you like him, then you have nothing to lose by asking him out or just suggesting it or whatever you feel comfortable with." Flint nodded, giving him a smile that said thank you.

"Thanks Kurt," he said. "I think- I think need some time to think about this, but thank you for that…I normally talk about this with Blaine, but Blaine's perspective has changed now that he and Sebastian are together – he thinks our situations are the same, but they're not because it was completely obvious that Sebastian liked him…sorry," he added, looking apologetically at Kurt for the mention of Sebastian and Blaine and how they were completely in love blah, blah, blah… Kurt shrugged because he'd heard it all before.

"It doesn't matter," he said. "I've heard it so many times before that it doesn't really bother me." Flint stared at him in disbelief. Kurt heaved a sigh. "Alright, I dislike it, but I can also accept it better now, and I think that Keats helped with that." Flint nodded in understanding.

"Yeah…I'm going to go for a walk…" he said, scrunching up his face into a frown. He made to walk away before stopping and turning back to Kurt. "Oh, and Kurt, I know that you have plans of maybe trying to get us to make up, and I'm really sorry for this, but you're going to have to count me out – I'm not befriending that boy again on my life." There was a pause in which Kurt stared at him, blinking in confusion as Flint's entire boy stiffened. Kurt frowned and looked around, immediately spotting Keats, who had silently appeared by Kurt's shoulder.

"Um…" said Kurt, not entirely sure what to say because Flint's statement had come completely out of the blue.

"See you around," said Flint, turning around and hurrying off. Kurt stared after him, mind struggling to think of a farewell before he turned to look at Keats, who looked really casual with the whole situation.

"Don't worry," said Keats, giving Kurt a small smile. "I won't make trouble, even though I _did_ apologise properly to him – not like the other ones that I gave because Hammonds made me." Kurt bit down on the inside lip, looking back in the direction that Flint had vanished before shrugging.

"I'll bare that in mind," he said, looking back up at his boyfriend. "How was your first day?" Keats shrugged.

"Nothing special, how was the new boy that you were orientating?"

"Alright, actually," said Kurt as they began to walk off down the hallway. "Hammonds only wanted me because he went to McKinley, but I didn't know him." Keats nodded.

"I take it that he wasn't out at McKinley." Kurt nodded.

"No, he wasn't, he came out to his parents, and they freaked out about the situation there – his dad is on the board of governors, but, apparently, he didn't want to overturn Karofsky's expulsion – and decided to transfer him here over Christmas. They agreed he wouldn't come out to the people at McKinley."

"I see…" said Keats, coming to a halt at random and suddenly pulling Kurt into an abandoned classroom. Kurt blinked in surprise as Keats closed the doors and guessed, from the set-up of the chairs and tables, that this was where the debate club met.

"Um, I'm all for making out in empty classrooms, but if we get caught then we could get in pretty big trouble." Keats looked at him with an amused smile on his face.

"Don't worry, this will be completely gentlemanly." He walked so that he was standing before Kurt, taking his hands in his. "It occurred to me, and I'm sure that it's occurred to you too, that we've never been on an actual date." Kurt smiled at that because he knew exactly where this was going. However, he didn't say anything because he wanted, _desperately_, for Keats to ask his question. Keats looked at him, knowing in a second what Kurt was thinking, and smiled wider. "So, baring that in mind, I was wondering whether you would do me the honour of accompanying me on a date this Saturday?" Kurt broke out into an even wider grin, eyebrow arching.

"Did you think for one second that I would say no?" he asked, and Keats rolled his eyes.

"I was simply trying to be romantic. I'll remember never to try that again." Kurt laughed at him, shaking his head.

"Of course, I'll go out with you this Saturday."

"Perfect," said Keats, drawing Kurt a little bit closer to him. "I was thinking that we could leave about two and go into Westerville. We can do whatever, and then have dinner in a restaurant; I've got the reservation made already so you don't have to worry about a thing."

"Except what I'm wearing," he pointed out, and Keats rolled his eyes once more.

"Naturally," he commented in a dry tone of voice. Kurt took on of his hands back and whacked at Keats. Keats let out a pronounced "_oww_!" of pain and pulled his face in a very pained expression. "_Kurt_, how could you do that to me?" Kurt rolled his eyes and stared at him in his best disdainful manner, shaking his head.

"Honestly," he said in a lofty manner, and Keats straightened up, winding his free hand around Kurt's waist, pulling him close. Kurt licked his lips slightly as Keats leant down to kiss him, and-

The door banged open and made them jump apart. Kurt looked past Keats, who had spun around to stare at the door, and saw that the debating team, including Chris, were standing there, staring at them. Kurt swallowed, flushing a little bit despite them not having been doing anything.

"Um," said Chris, who seemed to be the focus of all the eyes. "this room is now occupied…" There was an awkward silence as Kurt saw Keats roll his eyes. "I think the chess room is free." He added with the faintest of winks. Kurt raised an eyebrow. Chris shrugged. "Anything to preserve Juri's innocence," he said with another shrug as the rest of the team broke out into laughter. Kurt rolled his eyes at that because he had to admit that he did like Juri being sweet and innocent, even if Kurt had been advocating him getting a girlfriend. However, his reason was the same one that he had given Flint; getting over people was easier done with someone else.

"I think we had better leave," muttered Keats, and they quickly slipped past the other boys who were already talking about other things as they made their way to their seats, and Kurt was glad that there was no teacher around. "So," said Keats, turning to Kurt once they were alone again. "want to come back to my room?" Kurt swallowed, sorely tempted to say yes, but he also wanted to put his name down to Luc, and he was worried that he would forget if he went with Keats.

"I think," he said, putting his hands on Keats' blazer and smoothing out the fabric. "that I had better put my name down with Luc…I don't want to forget." Keats' head tilted to the side, and Kurt wondered whether he might have offended him.

"Solo?" he asked, and Kurt shook his head.

"Lead," he corrected, and Keats rolled his eyes.

"Details, details…the point is that you would be amazing in either." Kurt flushed, smiling at the compliment even though he knew that he was amazing.

"Well," he said, taking a step back from Keats. "I need to go find him."

"Good luck on your quest," Kurt rolled his eyes, shaking his head at his boyfriend's silliness, and turned to walk away. He felt buoyed as he made his way back to the music corridor because he could be a Warbler lead, and, more importantly, he was going on his _first date_! Keats was taking him out to dinner, and Kurt could feel himself flushing in anticipation of that night. How could he _possibly_ wait until Saturday? He was completely giddy, and he felt like skipping down the halls, but he didn't because that would be rather embarrassing, and he knew the boys here well enough to know that they were tease him for doing so mercilessly.

Even if he managed to restrain skipping through Dalton, he was certainly walking faster because he reached the now empty Warbler hall much quicker than he had been expecting. He could hear voices drifting through from Luc's office as he closed the doors to Warbler hall behind him and was tempted to come back later, but listening in for a moment that they weren't talking about anything serious;

"I said that you'd like him!" was the exclamation from Daley, and Kurt could hear Luc grumbling something about bird protection and supposed that Cameron was there too. He crossed the room and opened the door to Luc's office, looking in. Sure enough, Cameron Gaylin was standing in Luc's messy office, bright yellow canary standing on his finger. The two red haired boys were watching him, Luc with mildly narrowed eyes and Daley with a smile.

"Evening Master von Trapp," said Luc as Cameron jolted at his appearance, and Daley gave him a small smile. "Your name is now on my mental list of people," Kurt blinked at him, not entirely sure whether that meant he'd applied and looked around for a little bit of help.

"You should write it down Luc," said Daley, and Kurt was mildly surprised by the fact that Daley was so casual around Luc and called him that because hadn't he been told that you could only do that if you were one of his "_music kids_", and Daley wasn't into music.

"I would, but I don't want to take my eyes of him." Luc jabbed his finger in an unnecessarily forceful manner at Cameron, who blinked in alarm. Daley, however, simply rolled his eyes.

"Firstly, Cam ate _budgies_, not canaries, and, secondly, you know that story is bull."

"Still…I don't trust blondes to look after living things – or anything, for that matter." Cam's eyebrows leapt up his head, and Kurt found himself laughing, quietly, in amusement as Daley huffed and folded his arms.

"Look, I won't argue with you in regards to the cleverest boy in Dalton being a brunette, but not _all_ blondes are stupid." Luc glared at Daley, whose posture was a lot more casual than Kurt had seen it out of Sebastian or Morrison's presence.

"You know, I preferred you when you were scared of me." Daley rolled his eyes, grinning easily.

"Well, I preferred you when you ignored me." Luc chuckled and rolled his eyes, moving over to his desk to scribble down Kurt's name on a piece of paper.

"So I can really look after Pavarotti?" asked Cameron, eyes wide in hope, jumping into the conversation when Luc was laughing because it was one of few real indicators as to Luc's mood. Luc looked up and narrowed his eyes at the boy.

"If a single feather on his body is harmed, you will experience a painful death-" Daley snorted loudly at that for whatever reason, and Luc shot him a brief glare before turning back to Cameron. "-but, yes, I don't see why not…Just don't let Braden touch him; he's a good cellist, but I don't trust any of these boys after what _his_ year-" Kurt was surprised that Luc jabbed his thumb viciously in his direction. "-did to all the others." Kurt frowned, looking between them in confusion.

"Sorry, what did my year do?" There was a moment before Luc burst into hysterical laughter. Kurt arched an eyebrow, looking over at Daley for answers. The ginger boy shrugged in a marginally casual fashion, something in his jaw tensing a little bit.

"I wasn't there, but, in short, they killed off all the Warbler mascots." Kurt arched an eyebrow, not entirely sure what Daley meant by "_Warbler mascots_".

"What he means," said Luc, gasping for air and turning to Kurt with a huge grin on his face. "is that they killed off Pav's brothers and sisters…There's an unbroken line of canaries going right back to the founding of Dalton, and each new member of the Warblers was given a "_Warbler_" to look after for a term. It was a sacred tradition…until your year came along. David's escaped and died on the lacrosse pitch, Jeff's died of a stroke or something of the sort, and Nick poisoned his and Flint's…Pavarotti, here, was the sole survivor of the massacre; he was Thad's. I decided after that to end the tradition, especially after Blaine was the next new Warbler, and he had a hard enough time looking after himself…it totally would have been a bad idea to give him Pav here."

"Though, Luc is a _terrible_ carer of him. Often Sutherland and Hartfield kidnap him so that he survives!" Luc laughed in an uproarious fashion, and Kurt had to question why Luc found that story so funny, but then he decided not to because it was Luc.

"Now, I remember why you're a comic actor! All those months of depression are coming to an end! Hallelujah!" Kurt wasn't sure if he was imagining it, but he thought he saw Daley flinch at the mention of "_depression_", but he shook it off with a grin.

"I have to admit that I like being back at Dalton…it does make it easier to be comic, but you're the only person who would find that comic."

"I am not the only person that would find it funny! Cam was giggling! And Pavarotti was expressing his amusements too!"

"Pavarotti is a _bird_! How can he be "_expressing his amusements_"? All I see expressed here is your insanity, and your inability to cope with the fact that you have an appalling sense of humour!" Kurt turned around, shaking his head as he laughed, and left the room to the sound of Luc and Daley bickering about whether or not Luc had a good sense of humour because he found Daley funny.

* * *

Blaine sat down in the common room, folding one leg over the other and frowning in thought. He had never had to get a song prepared in such a short space of time – or so he thought, he often forget things like that because the days blended together in his head. He couldn't think of song that was good enough for him to perform in such a short space of time. He knew that this was probably the hardest audition that he was going to have to do because of Kurt. Kurt had an amazing voice, and he had to be the council nomination which would put him at the top of the soloist list.

Blaine loved Kurt's voice, and he thought Kurt was amazing and definitely deserved to have a solo or a lead or whatever, but Blaine also loved the fact that he and Sebastian got to sing duets together. He loved singing with him because he loved looking into his eyes whilst listening to his sumptuous voice that rolled over Blaine in amazing waves, and just made him want to leap onto Sebastian and kiss him until they passed out from oxygen deprivation. That, and Blaine wouldn't have much longer to sing with Sebastian. Kurt would have his entire Senior year here.

He reckoned that he could probably pull out some Katy Perry song, but that might count as something the council had seen before. He ran a hand through his hair and decided that his best option was probably to go upstairs, turn on his iPod and listen to music until he found the song to sing. He got to his feet, ignoring all the guys that were laughing and groaning about the amount of homework that they had already had piled onto them.

He picked his way away from them, trying not to think about his dad's threat for one second, and headed towards the stairs at a really slow pace because instead of the usual feelings of hope and joy that he got at Dalton, he felt nothing but hopelessness and despair. He couldn't believe that just _hours_ earlier he had been in hysterics over what David had said in French because he didn't feel like he could ever laugh again. The thought of never laughing again made him want to cry, and he swallowed heavily as he made his way up to his room, picking up his iPod he flopped down onto the bed, face first, and closed his eyes. Automatically, he put the headphones in his ears and started the music.

Blaine wasn't sure how long he lay there listening to a random mess of Disney songs, recent pop music and classic rock. He listened to every track, but not once did he ever spring upright with a grin on his face because he had found the perfect song to sing. In fact, he was sure that he was drifting off to sleep as he listened to David Bowie's _Rebel Rebel_, which wasn't exactly a soothing song that would normally put him to sleep. However, before, he could doze off completely, the sound of the door opening and closing cut through the sound of Bowie's voice. He rolled over and saw that it was Sebastian. He sat up with a smile on his face, turning off his iPod.

"Bastian," he said with a grin. Sebastian came to sit down on the bed, leaning over to press his lips to Blaine's. Blaine leant forward into the kiss, but Sebastian pushed him down onto the bed, tongue slipping out of his mouth and into Blaine's waiting one. Sebastian ran a hand through Blaine's hair, running it down his face, along the curve of his neck and beginning to work loose Blaine's tie. Blaine raked his soft hand through Sebastian's hair. It was _so _soft, and he loved the way that Sebastian emitted low noises whenever he tugged on it. He let out a low groan as Sebastian's lips pressed against his neck and struggled to get his brain into gear. He needed to talk about the solo.

"_Blaine_…" groaned Sebastian, pulling out an astonishing pair of puppy-dog eyes, and Blaine wanted to cave and give in because Sebastian wanted _him_ that badly, and it made him want to swoon. "Please stop trying my self-restraint…" he was breathing deeply and shallowly. Blaine attempted to control his own breathing because he just wanted to jump forward and lock his lips back over Sebastian's and run his hands straight back through his hair.

"What about the lead auditions?" he said, removing Sebastian's hands from his body because they were rubbing against his chest in a highly distracting manner. "Two days! I don't think we're going be duetting next week!" Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"I forgot what I came here to tell you!" he said, smiling at Blaine in a manner that made him flush because he knew that Sebastian insinuating that he was so good-looking – _hot_ – that he'd managed to make Sebastian forget all about what he had meant to tell Blaine. "I spoke to Wes, and, because it's either one of the people auditioning or us, we can sing together!" Blaine felt his eyes widen in surprise, heart beating that he thought it would at such an innocuous statement.

"We can?" he asked in amazement. Sebastian nodded, waiting for the inevitable explosion of relief and happiness that would come. "_Thank you_!" he exclaimed, lunging at Sebastian. Sebastian caught him easily, nuzzling slightly into Blaine's neck. "I love you!" he exclaimed, leaning back before kissing Sebastian on lips. He drew back before Sebastian could deepen the kiss and get them distracted again.

"I know that you love me, you say it all the time!" Blaine rolled his eyes, shaking his head in amusement.

"You're meant to say that you love me too," he said, pulling out his own puppy-dog eyes. He fixed the most baleful look his could onto his face and made his bottom lip tremble, waiting for Sebastian to roll his eyes and give his response. Sebastian heaved a huge sigh and rolled his eyes.

"I love you too, Blaine…Now can we _please_ make out? I swear that I cannot resist you for any longer!"

"But what song are we going to sing?" demanded Blaine, eyes wide open in panic. Sebastian rolled his eyes, letting out a soft groan.

"Can we _please_ have this conversation later? I have some ideas that I think you'll like, but I really need _you_ right now." Blaine could feel himself flushing an even darker shade of crimson, an effect that Sebastian often had on him, and he wanted to say no and demand to know what the songs that Sebastian had chosen were and when they were going to practise, but… Sebastian was staring at him with such an intense look in his eyes that it made him want to melt.

"Okay…" he whispered, mouth turning up into a smile at the spark of happiness that flared up in Sebastian's eyes at his words. Sebastian slid closer to him on the bed and then stopped, glancing at Blaine's door.

"What are the chances of Thad walking in a disturbing us?" he asked, eyebrow arching. Blaine, whose whole body was tense in anticipation, deflated and shrugged.

"I dunno!" he exclaimed, glaring at Sebastian for saying that he needed Blaine and then stopping before they could do anything. "Quite high, I suppose." Sebastian rolled his eyes and grabbed Blaine's hands.

"Come on, I don't want any more interruptions." Blaine managed an amused smile as Sebastian dragged him out of his room, walking backwards down the corridor with complete confidence that no one would dare walk into him because – you know – he was Sebastian, and they would die if they walked into Sebastian or tripped him up or whatever.

"Are you sure Daley won't come in?" asked Blaine in apprehension because he would much rather that Thad walked in on them than _Daley_. In fact, he'd rather anyone, which included Mrs Daniels, walk in on them than Daley, especially given that she _had_ done that and hadn't actually done anything to punish them…though, she had been distracted by Trinity doing rather strange things. Sebastian gave him a level glare that told him he was a complete idiot for thinking that Sebastian hadn't already considered it.

"Blaine… _sexy_," he said in a low voice that made him weak at the knees. "you need to think less…_much_ less…" Blaine wanted to roll his eyes and tell Sebastian to shut up, but Sebastian was _staring_ at him again in a manner that _so_ intense it made him both nervous and excited.

"Okay, but only if you do too!" Sebastian let out a low chuckle, rolling his eyes and shooting Blaine a condescending look.

"You know that _that_ is impossible, Blaine…Besides, I'm not sure that you would _want_ me too…" Blaine stared at Sebastian, for some reason feeling even more light headed and blushing. He let out a small giggle as Sebastian dragged him into his room, and Blaine made sure to kick the door closed behind him.

* * *

"Alright boys," said Wes, banging the gavel. Kurt looked over at Trent, who was standing in a corner, and then glanced back to Wes. "I will be quick about this because we might have a new Warbler, but the people auditioning are Tyler Drummond, Nick Duval, Warren Gallagher, Kurt Hummel, Liam Madden, Jeff Sterling and Flint Wilson." Kurt let out a relieved sigh, glad that he'd qualified for a solo even though he knew that it would be insane if he didn't. "Congratulations, boys; you'll be auditioning in that order tomorrow after Sebastian and Blaine."

Kurt swallowed, not keen on going after the original leads because he had no doubt that both Sebastian and Blaine would be amazing, and that would probably make the others more likely to go for them. He looked around the room as his back was patted by Francis, who was standing behind him, and saw that all the boys were smiling at any of the people whose names had been read out. He was mildly surprised that most of the boys that were auditioning were in his year with only one boy each from the other three. He supposed, though, that Liam was the only Senior that could compete against Sebastian.

"Okay then," said Wes. "we're going to go and listen to Trent's song. Thad, can you make sure that Luc is there?" Thad nodded and left the room. "On interest, how many of you would vote yes?" There was a pause before Kurt began to put his hand up. Slowly, after apparent consideration, the rest of the hands went up. Wes nodded, looking at David as he stood up. "Good, Trent, come on." Kurt smiled at Trent, whose face had broken out into a smile at the show of hands, looked incredibly nervous.

"You'll be fine," said Flint, sitting forward with a big smile. "Just sing your absolute best." Kurt nodded and moved to say something more, but Wes was already ushering Trent out of the room. Kurt gave him a big smile instead before Trent walked out of the room, and David closed the door behind them.

A very calm silence fell over Warbler hall now that the figures of authority were gone. Kurt sat back into the sofa and looked sideways at Blaine. Blaine turned to look at him, smiling, as other conversations began to happen.

"Have you decided what you're going to sing?" he asked. Blaine pulled a face and shook his head.

"The council decided that me and Sebastian could sing together-" Kurt arched an eyebrow in surprise, having thought that the council would be quite strict on making them audition as individuals. "Oh, they are," said Blaine, smiling, and Kurt had to admit that there was something incredibly captivating about his smile, and he was amazed by Blaine's ability to instantly read what Kurt was thinking from a single arched eyebrow. "but because it's either me _and_ Sebastian or any of you, they thought that it was only fair that we should audition as one." Kurt nodded, seeing sense in that. "-anyway," said Blaine, rolling his eyes. "we kind of got…um…_distracted_…" he went pink in the face as Kurt rolled his eyes.

"I see…I'm struggling to think of a song." Blaine gave him a calm smile and put a hand on his shoulder in a reassuring manner.

"Don't worry, you'll find one…just don't be too ambitious; go for something simple that you can sing well compared to something extravagant that could flop." Kurt nodded, pulling a face that said he already knew that but _still_ couldn't think of a song. "The way I think of it," continued Blaine, seeing that Kurt hadn't gained anything from what Blaine had said. "is that if I can't sing it perfect off the cuff then it's not the right song," Kurt arched an eyebrow.

"And there are lots of songs that you can get perfect "_off the cuff_" that would be good for an audition?" Blaine shrugged, noting the disbelieving look on Kurt's face.

"Trust me, get your iPod, turn it on and wait for the right song." Kurt sighed, accepting that there wasn't much wrong with Blaine's suggestion except for the length of time that it took to do. He looked around the room as Blaine patted his shoulder in a sympathetic manner and was unnerved to see that Sebastian was staring at him…or was he staring at Blaine, Kurt couldn't tell…Either way, it was weird because he wasn't glaring at Kurt or staring in that strange way that he did at Blaine. "Ignore Bastian," said Blaine, softly, and Kurt jumped, having been unaware that Blaine had noticed where he was looking.

"What is he doing?" asked Kurt in a low voice so that Sebastian didn't hear because if Sebastian had spooky hearing like Mrs Daniels than Kurt wouldn't be surprised. Blaine shrugged.

"I don't know, but you should just ignore him…The last time I took him seriously in one of his funny moods we had that row, so I think it's best to just pretend that he's not looking at us." Kurt pulled a face and then turned back to Blaine.

"So…do you have any idea who's going to get the lead?" he asked. Blaine shrugged, pulling a thoughtful face.

"No, normally the last round is me versus Sebastian, and then they decide that we should duet, and Nick is often the one that gets through to the penultimate round, but you, Flint and Tyler all stand a really good chance to get it." Kurt nodded, frown in place, though, over the mention of rounds.

"Blaine," he said, beginning to feel mildly worried because he had no idea how these auditions worked because they weren't exactly how he'd imagined them if they were done in rounds. "what did you mean when you said that you and Sebastian got to the "_last round_" all the time, and Nick gets to the "_penultimate round_"? Don't we just…sing?" Blaine blinked at him once before breaking out an apologetic smile.

"Oh, Kurt, I'm sorry, I completely forgot that we didn't have auditions for the Winter Concert so you don't know how this works!" Kurt felt something twist inside of him at that, but Blaine immediately shot him an easy grin and patted his arm. "You'll be fine if you stay calm, and there's no need to worry, Kurt, I'm sorry that we didn't explain this to you earlier." Kurt shrugged.

"That's fine, just do it _now_!" Blaine laughed at him, and Kurt could feel an involuntary smile breaking out at the sound.

"Okay, so, first, the default leads – so me and Bastian – sing our song, and then all the challengers – you guys – sing your songs, and you perform in alphabetical order. Then you all go out of the room, and we vote for whoever we think should go out. Then the challengers left sing, we vote one out, and then you sing again, and we vote, blah blah blah…"

"So, you and Sebastian can vote?" he asked with a confused frown. Blaine stared at him for a second, blinking, before shaking his head.

"Oh no, me and Bastian can't vote, but we can input…What happens is we send you out of the room, and we discuss and vote, and then the default lead – it'll probably be me because Sebastian hates doing it – will come out and say who went through and who didn't. Then we do that over and over until there's one challenger left. Then the default lead sings again, and they do, and then we vote for the lead that we want." Kurt nodded, trying to work out how many times he would have to sing to get the lead. "There aren't normally this many people auditioning," said Blaine, giving him a half-smile that was clearly meant to be encouraging. "I have to admit that feels good to know that I only have to sing twice…_finally_." Kurt frowned at that.

"Weren't you the default lead?" he asked. Blaine heaved a sigh.

"No, _technically_ that was Sebastian because I never won it off him because we sang duets so I had to sing more than twice, but there weren't that many of us so it wasn't _that_ bad." Kurt nodded once more, reckoning that he would have to sing about _seven_ times to get the lead…Oh God, that was going to be a long rehearsal, _and_ he would be lucky not to lose his voice.

The door opened before Kurt could say anything back to Blaine, and Wes came back in, leading David, who was holding a CD player, and Trent. Thad brought up the rear and shut the doors to the hall before dashing to his seat. Trent took a couple of deep breaths, eyes searching out the friendly faces of the boys that he knew, and Kurt gave him the most encouraging smile that he could. Trent swallowed and nodded to David, who pushed play.

_I'm still feeling the rain fall_

_Bouncing off my skin_

_How long do I have to wait for_

_The sun to shine again?_

Kurt felt an instant smile break out across his face at the song because, not only was Trent's voice filled with confidence, it was overflowing with hope. Kurt knew that, even though he hadn't been out, he had suffered at McKinley. He'd been forced to suffer in silence, keeping who he was squashed down inside of him out of fear, and he – just like Kurt – had been sitting there wondering how much longer was he going to have to go on like this. How long would it take for things to get better?

_Come on paint me a rainbow_

_So I can follow it_

_I don't know where it'll take me_

_But I like wondering_

Kurt was also glad to hear the fact that Trent seemed to have gotten the easiest way to enjoy Dalton very quickly; he was ready to sit back and let the rollercoaster take him on whatever ups and downs and loops that it had. Kurt knew that trying to understand Dalton did your head in because it was madhouse, but he got the impression that Trent was looking forward to all of that – he was looking forward to everything because he finally had things to look forward _to_!

_Whoever you are_

_Where will you be?_

_Are you the same old dreamer?_

_Out there waiting only for me?_

His voice seemed to lift slightly higher, filled with sweet hope and joy, and all Kurt could do was relax into the sofa and simply _listen_ to Trent's voice. He could hear the excitement in Trent's voice which Kurt could completely empathise with because this was the school that allowed people to genuinely believe that _love_ was something that could really happen. That there was that special person – _the_ _one_ – out there someone.

_Waiting for love_

_Waiting for the same old dreamer_

_On the other side_

_Hoping that no matter how far _

_I'm gonna to find my way to you_

_Following a rainbow…_

Kurt looked sideways and saw that Blaine's face was split into a wide grin. He met Kurt's eyes, and Kurt could see, instantly, that he was completely relieved that there was _one_ gay person that could come to Dalton for safety and a place to be who they really were and not be in a rut of depression after having their lives endangered…That fact had almost as much hope in it as Trent's voice. Trent was here. He was okay, but, more than that, he had quickly grasped the fact that he had _everything_ to believe in…

Glancing around the room, Kurt could see that most of the other Warblers had similar smiles and relaxed expressions on their faces. Kurt looked at Flint and saw that he had a thoughtful expression on his face; left elbow propped up on the arm of the sofa and cheek squished into the palm of his left hand with rather glazed eyes, like he was thinking about, or seeing, things that were not in the room. Sebastian looked a lot less creepy than he had when Kurt had last looked at him because he was leaning against a table, and had the same mild frown that he'd worn when Kurt had been auditioning.

Now that Kurt thought about it, though, he could understand why. Trent didn't sound like someone that hadn't sung solo in _years_…He sounded easily as good as- as Kurt himself did, especially now that he had fallen into the song completely. Kurt had to admit that he was torn somewhere between amazement at that, and complete frustration at the amount of competition there was in the Warblers. Given the fact that Sebastian and Blaine seemed to consistently sing solo, he had assumed that the others weren't as good, but then he remembered the _play_…Oh, he was _very_ lucky that Trent didn't have his crest yet.

_Oh, oh, oh, oh…_

_Stuck in my mind_

_I'm wasting time_

_Still on my own_

Kurt was drawn back into reality as Trent reached the middle eight. Looking over at the boy, he saw that his eyes were closed as he became lost in his own song. Kurt knew, though, that these words would be resonating deeply within him; his identity was stuck inside of him, not gaining anything and all on his own.

_I never thought that _

_I would find my way_

_Into the light_

_Dreaming to find…_

And, of course, he would never have thought that he would find Dalton because no one in that situation did. They believed it was out there – they _hoped_ it was out there – but they never thought that they'd find the place where it was normal for boys to ask each other out or to kiss under the mistletoe, even if they weren't gay, just because it was there. It was a dream…not a normal, boring dream, though, more like one of the gas induced Britney dreams some of the New Directions had had, but a dream nonetheless.

_Wherever you are?_

_Where will you be?_

_Are you the same old dreamer?_

_Out there waiting only for me?_

Trent opened his eyes as the backing dropped back into the simply guitar chords from the beginning. He looked around at the all the Warblers, and Kurt knew that he, like Kurt had, was taking heart from all the smiles in the room, was finding solace in people that respected a guy's ability to sing, and had sort of already found the end of the rainbow.

_Waiting for love_

_Waiting for the same old dreamer_

_On the other side_

_Hoping that no matter how far _

_I'm gonna to find my way to you_

_Following a rainbow…_

_I know we're gonna find it_

_I know we're gonna find it_

_I won't let you go…_

_Following a rainbow…_

Kurt burst into applause along with all the other Warblers. Trent was scarlet in the face, taking in some deep breaths, and Kurt guessed that he was feeling giddy and lightheaded from the rapturous applause he was getting. Trent ran a hand through his hair, and Kurt shot him a wink, also giving him the thumbs up. Trent let out a little laugh as Wes' voice cut through all the noise being generated by the Warblers.

"All in favour of welcoming Trent Nixon to the Warblers?" All hands shot into the air, and Trent let out a relieved sigh, sagging slightly. "Alright," said Wes, banging his gavel loudly so that people would shut up. "let's wrap this up. I look forward to the auditions tomorrow."

* * *

"Blaine," Blaine looked up from his desk as Flint's head appeared around the door. Blaine broke into a grin and beckoned him in. Flint took some rather nervous looking steps into the room and dropped down onto Thad's bed. "I was expecting Sebastian to be here," said Flint, and Blaine felt himself blushing scarlet for no other reason than the fact that Sebastian _had_ been here and that Blaine wasn't sure that his uniform and hair was neat enough to convince anyone that they'd been singing.

"Um…he left to…do…_things_…" Flint stared at him, eyes swooping up and down Blaine's figure, and Blaine felt himself go even pinker as a knowing expression filtered onto Flint's face.

"I take it that you got a lot of practise done," he said, winking with a smirk on his face. Blaine scowled, fighting a smile at the memories, and threw his pen down onto his work.

"We did," he replied, shortly, getting up and sitting down on his bed, nervously smoothing out the bedspread under Flint's amused gaze. "Stop looking at me like that!" he exclaimed, face going even redder because he couldn't quite take the implications of things that were completely true because there was no way to deny that he and Sebastian had spent more time making out than singing.

"Alright…" said Flint, still smirking in a manner that Blaine knew was unstoppable. "Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something. Where's Thad?" Blaine blinked, frowning because if Flint's question _really_ was "_where is Thad?_" than why had come to Blaine because Blaine didn't know where Thad was any more than the next person.

"Um, no idea…he's either at gym or out doing Thad things… Why?" Flint shrugged, looking around the room in a manner that suggested he was expecting Thad to leap out at them, which _Thad_ definitely wouldn't do, but Blaine knew that most of the others would do it because he'd been scared out of his wits several times by them doing it to him.

"I would rather that we weren't disturbed," said Flint in a very dry tone of voice. "and I know that Thad keeps his mouth shut, in general, but I have a feeling that I'll lose my nerve if there's any delay." Blaine blinked at him, eyebrows arching in intrigued confusion. Flint sighed. "Look, Kurt gave me some advice, and I think that I want to act on it, but I wanted to talk to you about it." Blaine nodded, feeling a little bit of concern building up inside of him.

"What advice?" he asked, and Flint swallowed, twisting his fingers together.

"I think- I think I like someone else, and I- I- I'm _really_ confused." Blaine hopped off his bed as Flint pressed the palms of his hands against his forehead and let out a long groan. He sat down next to Flint and put a comforting hand on his back, rubbing his shoulder blade.

"It's alright…" he said in reassurance, presenting a calm exterior so that Flint would feel better, but on the inside he was desperate to know who this other person that Flint may like was. "Who do you like?" Flint let out a long groan, dropping his head forward before grunting out;

"Dylan," and then slumping face down into Thad's bedcovers. Blaine blinked once, trying to remember what Dylan's sexuality was, and wondered just when the _hell_ this had started.

"Um…" he said, not really sure what to say. "and Dylan definitely swings our way, right?" Flint let out an indistinct mumble into the bedclothes before he pushed himself up, turning to face Blaine.

"He's bi," said Flint, and Blaine nodded because that was a start…that was _good_, actually, unless Dylan was with someone. "He's also single," added Flint, quickly catching onto Blaine's train of thought. "He had a girlfriend, but they broke up in the summer." Blaine nodded, trying to work out what Flint wanted him to say and/or do.

"Do you know why they broke up?" he asked, eventually, because he was running short of things to say in this conversation that wasn't really a conversation because of how stilted things were.

"She had an affair with some guy that went to her high school…Long distance didn't work out, that kind of thing." Blaine nodded in understanding.

"Okay, so I take it that having two crushes on two different guys is what's confusing you?" Flint nodded, looking thoroughly miserable. Blaine sighed, sitting back on the bed and thinking back to that bamboozling time when he had been coming to terms with the fact that he liked – had fallen in _love_ with – Sebastian and, yet, was still crushing on Garth.

"I mean, Kurt told me that I had nothing to lose by, you know, asking him out, but…I feel like I'm giving up on it forever, and, even though I know that he doesn't – he'd _never_ – like me like that, I feel like shit and like a failure." Blaine rubbed his shoulder some more, thinking carefully over what had been said.

"Well, I think Kurt's right about asking Dylan out, and…Flint, it's really hard to deal with at first, but it'll probably make you happier in the long run…You've been hung up on Nick for _years_, and I think, if you're not going to ask him out, then you should definitely make a move, but only if you really _want_ to. Don't do it because we've told you it's for the best, do it because it'll make you happy or because you think he's really hot-" Flint went mildly pink and looked away at Blaine's suggestive look. "-or _whatever_, just make sure that's what you really want before you take the plunge."

Flint nodded, looking down at his hands, and Blaine sighed mildly, but let his friend fall into contemplative silence. He knew that Flint would reach the conclusion that was right for him, and Blaine was glad that Flint wasn't fixating on whether or not Dylan would like him because it seemed to prove that Flint had some shred of self-esteem left in him. He couldn't describe how glad that made him because it meant that Flint wasn't quite as weak as he thought it was.

"I want to do it, but…I mean, how did you get the guts to ask Sebastian out? I mean, if I think about doing something like that – Nick and Dylan alike – then it feels like I'm having a panic attack!" Blaine squeezed Flint's shoulder tightly.

"Calm down," he said, softly, giving him a smile that told him that things were going to be fine. "if you think that I wasn't freaking out when I asked Sebastian out then you are the biggest idiot in the world!" Flint gave him a small smile at that, rolling his eyes faintly.

"_You're_ the biggest idiot, Blaine, because Sebastian had just given a speech about how you had made him consider a monogamous relationship and how he was trying for you…You don't get a bigger sign that someone wants to go out with you than that!" Blaine let out a small laugh, slapping Flint's shoulder in an affectionate manner.

"Shut up!" he exclaimed, but Flint was laughing and grinning too. "So, are you going to do it?" Flint shrugged, looking nervous once again.

"I dunno. I mean, what would I _say_ to him?" Blaine pulled a face because he hadn't put any thought into what he'd said to Sebastian because it had all come bursting out of him.

"Well, I don't suggest my method of blurting it out so…" he sighed, shrugging once more. "I think it would be best if you sat down with him and, you know, talk about how you feel…I reckon that it would be good for both of you to make sure how you feel and all that and what your…physical boundaries are." Flint nodded, running a hand through his light brown and staring at the floor.

"Okay, that- that sounds…_doable_, I suppose." Blaine gave him a small, encouraging smile. Flint swallowed, putting a hand over his face. "If…just…_if_ – by some wild chance – that Nick liked me…what- what would I do?" Blaine sighed, biting his lip at that because that was a difficult question. On the one hand, Blaine would say go for it, but on the other… A relationship wasn't one sided, and Flint would feel terrible if he hurt Dylan.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I mean, I know how conflicted you feel, but with me…There was no way that Garth would want to go out with me given that he couldn't remember me…I suppose that you'd have to think long and hard about what you _really_ want, and if that's Nick, and he _really wants_ you, then I suppose I could advocate you breaking up with Dylan…I'm sure that he'd understand…" Flint groaned, putting his head in his hands.

"This is a nightmare!" he exclaimed. "I mean, being in love with Nick was bad enough, but now _this_! I can't- I can't concentrate, and I can't decide what to sing!" Blaine returned to rubbing Flint's shoulder, swallowing and thinking hard before the obvious thing hit him in the face. He turned to Flint with a big smile, and Flint, seemingly catching the grin out of the corner, looked up at him. "What…?" he asked, drawing out the word with a look of complete apprehension on his face. Blaine grinned.

"You should sing it out!" he said, grinning like an idiot. "Find a song that expresses how you feel and sing it for the audition, and _then_ you should think about Dylan and Nick and all of that…" Flint nodded, rubbing a hand over his tired eyes.

"I wish it was that easy," he moaned. "I'm so confused that I can't panic over whether or not Dylan might like me." Blaine rolled his eyes at that because there went Blaine's hopes that Flint was building himself up some self-esteem. "Though he's always seeking me out and making jokes and telling me that I look great…I think he's flirting with me, but I don't really know…I don't know anything about flirting." Blaine grinned at his friend, completely understanding how he felt in regards to that because Sebastian had driven him _crazy_, but he was also glad that Dylan appeared to be actively attempting to get Flint's attention.

"Well…" said Blaine, running a hand through his slightly messy gelled hair. "I stand by what I just said about singing and then making your decision…Though I have to warn you that Nick might get pouty and jealous about you not spending time with him." Flint blinked at Blaine, frowning. Blaine rolled his eyes and let out a long, exasperated sigh. "When you spent all that time with Dylan on New Year's Day, he got all huffy about you not being around at dinner…I get the feeling that Nick will get jealous without knowing why he doesn't like you not being with him." Flint groaned, putting his head back into his hands and pulling his hair slightly.

"_Blaine_…" he whinged. "Why did you have to tell me that? You just made me feel _worse_! I'm so confused!" Blaine sighed, having not intended to make him more confused because he'd been trying to prepare him for Nick's childish behaviour, and rubbed his shoulder again.

"Sorry, I just wanted you to be prepared…I didn't want you to get into a relationship and then immediately want to get back out because you perceive Nick being jealous of you and Dylan because he likes you." Flint groaned and flopped down onto the bed.

"I hate my life!" he said, throwing his hands over his face, and Blaine managed a faint smile because, whilst he was worried that Flint might be getting a little too close to giving up on everything after Christmas and all the negative feelings that he was carrying, he could tell that Flint was joking.

"At least you've got a sense of humour in you," he said, nudging Flint with an elbow, smile on his face. Flint let out a groan at Blaine's abuse, but he took his heads from his face with a small grin on his face.

"I highly doubt that that will do anything to help me," he grumbled. Blaine just sent him a crooked smile, feeling rather cheeky because it wasn't often that Blaine felt a real blast of optimism, especially around Flint, but he was rather looking forward to the idea of Flint getting a boyfriend.

"I don't know, everybody loves a clown!" Flint pouted and shoved at Blaine. Blaine allowed himself to topple over onto the bedspread, letting out a groan of pain. "_Flint_…" he moaned, and Flint whacked at him again. Blaine pushed himself upright, grabbing onto Flint's attacking hands. The two of them had a strange sort of fights in which they pushed each other's eyes back and forth before they somehow ended up toppling off the bed.

"Oww!" yelped Flint, having ended up on the bottom of the two person pile. Blaine let out a chuckle, grinning down at him. Flint detached his hands from where they were trapped somewhere between their bodies and the floor and swiped at Blaine's face. Blaine rolled off him, and Flint leapt up, rubbing the back of his head with one hand, and chucked himself onto Blaine to pin him down.

"Oof!" gasped Blaine, feeling all the wind being knocked out of him as Flint landed on his torso. He coughed a little bit, but Flint was smirking down at him.

"Ha! Who's laughing now?" he demanded, and Blaine struggled to think of a smart comment to say to that, but he drew a complete blank. Flint snorted, leering down at him in a manner that Blaine knew was meant to be victorious or intimidating, but really _wasn't_. "Na, na, na, na, naa!" chanted Flint, poking his tongue out at Blaine. Blaine scowled up at him, telling him that he was being childish, but he knew that Flint didn't care.

"My boyfriend and my not-friend; it can't be!" Blaine went scarlet at the sound of Sebastian's voice. He'd heard the door opening, but he hadn't had time to do anything about the fact that Flint was lying on top of him before Sebastian's voice had broken through.

Flint leapt off Blaine at the sound of Sebastian's voice, and Blaine, scarlet faced and feeling utterly humiliated, tilted his head back so that he could see Sebastian standing in the doorway, eyebrow quirked and arms folded whilst he looked down at them with a severely disapproving look upon his face. Blaine swallowed, wondering why he was constantly being humiliated, and looked back at Flint, who was nervously wiping his hands on his trousers like he didn't know what to do in the situation.

"Um…well…I'm going to go and do some practise for the audition…Thanks for the advice, Blaine!" Blaine tilted his head so that he could see Flint hightailing from the room, squishing past Sebastian and fleeing out of sight. Blaine righted the position of his neck and waited for Sebastian to say something.

"Blaine," said Sebastian, closing the door. "stand up and look at me." Blaine rolled his eyes, letting out a huge sigh, and got to his feet. He turned around to look into Sebastian's judgemental face. "So…is there anything that you want to tell me?" Blaine glared at him in a disparaging manner. Sebastian's face didn't change. Blaine got the impression that this was going to be a battle of wills.

"No," he said, folding his hands behind his back. "I don't think there is…I was having a personal conversation with an _intimate_ friend." Sebastian stared at him for one second longer before a smile began to quirk at his lips.

"Blaine, are you being deliberately misleading?" Blaine began to smirk at him, not entirely sure where this conversation was going to go, but he had a feeling that it was going to end with them both on the bed locked at the lips…Sebastian had a knack for doing that.

"Perhaps," he said, rocking forward onto the balls of his feet as Sebastian took a couple of steps towards them, for some reason getting the feeling like he was being coy for some reason that he couldn't discern.

"I see…" replied Sebastian, stepping even closer to Blaine and his voice dropping even lower in pitch. Blaine had learnt to take that as an indicator that Sebastian was going to end the conversation soon. "I have been teaching you very well, Blaine, _very_ well." Blaine gulped a little, picking up that same _intense_ vibe that he got from Sebastian when he knew that Sebastian _really_ wanted him. He could feel the nerves building up inside of him, and he would hate it if it wasn't accompanied by a rush of adrenaline. He desperately wanted to say something _more_, but he couldn't quite think what. He had to say _something_.

"I'm sure that there's plenty more you could teach me," he said, smirking some more as he took a step away from Sebastian. He could see that Sebastian approved of everything that he was doing, but he also got the impression that Sebastian was stopping himself from jumping at Blaine…wow, Blaine was getting _really_ good at reading Sebastian. He felt ridiculously proud of himself for that.

"Oh Blaine," came Sebastian's reply, eventually, as his smirk grew in a manner that told Blaine he was, also, proud of himself for – sort of – teaching Blaine to flirt. "you have _no_ idea…"

* * *

_Okay, so I've got my song, and I know that it's perfect, but I definitely feel like I may be sick. I was surprised to find that Blaine's method actually worked, and it didn't take too long either…though that might have had more to do with the fact that I skipped over a lot of songs because I knew that they wouldn't work. I'm actually very pleased with my song choice, I think it's got a lot of meaning for me. I just wonder what the others are doing…Oh no, Mrs Daniels has realised that I've been tuning her out for the past, like, half an hour…Crap…_

"Mr Hummel," snapped Mrs Daniels, and Kurt hid his wince as he sat up straight in his chair. "can you repeat what I just said?" Kurt blinked once and then looked over at Juri and Morrison for some help. Juri was frowning, which told Kurt that Mrs Daniels had been using long words again, and Morrison pulled a face that told him he would never guess what she'd been saying.

"Um," he said, facing front and trying to retain some of credibility. "I'm sorry, I can't quite recall what you said." Mrs Daniels gave him a fierce glare, but was distracted by the sound of muttering and whispering. Everyone looked, with her, at Thad and David, who were talking furiously in undertones, and were being watched through narrowed eyes by Nick.

"Mr Thompson, Mr Harwood!" The two boys leapt and looked, guiltily, up at their History teacher. Mrs Daniels glared down at them. "And _what_ was so interesting?" There was a pause in which the two councillors looked at each other before shrugging.

"Warblers," said Thad, eventually, into the silence as David cringed under the intensity of her glare. There was a moment of silence in which Kurt briefly thought that she might accept that as a reason to talk, but then he realised that she was bristling in anger.

"Oh _really_," she said in a voice of complete contempt that Kurt thought was totally out of place. She seemed to only be focusing on Thad now, who looked remarkably unfazed by that seeing as David had slumped across his desk in relief that she wasn't interested in him anymore. "and what makes you think that _my_ lesson is an acceptable place to do that."

"Well-"

"And I think you should well know that being a Warbler councillor – and discussing it in _my_ lesson no less – is not sufficient enough to keep your music scholarship. You contribute none of your talents to the department, can you even still sing?" There was a moment of complete silence. Kurt stared at the very pale looking Franklin boy. He could see that Thad looked utterly horrified by the idea that he might lose his scholarship, and Kurt couldn't blame him because he wouldn't be able to stay at Dalton, probably, if he lost it. The other boys around him also looked like they'd been slapped. "Get up," she snapped, and Thad, wide eyed, got to his feet, gaping without being able to speak. "Sing," she commanded. Kurt felt his neck jut forward in shock because she couldn't just _make _him sing.

"Mrs Daniels," began Nick, looking shocked by her apparent threat to take away his scholarship. "I don't think he can-"

"_Quiet_ Mr Duval!" she shouted, voice sharp, snappish and _very_ loud. Nick's eyes went wide, and he shrunk back in his seat looking alarmed. "Now _sing_!" Kurt swallowed, feeling the awkwardness of the situation settle down on him because Thad could clearly not find his voice. Kurt couldn't exactly blame him for that because the pressure of the situation was overwhelming, and Thad could clearly not cope under pressure at all. The longer that Thad continued to gape wordlessly the harder it became to look at him. Nick and David were both looking away already, redirecting their gaze onto their hands or desks because they couldn't stand to see him suffer the humiliation that he was, and Juri had closed his eyes whilst Morrison was snatching glances at Thad before looking back at Mrs Daniels' cold face. Glancing around, Kurt saw that Alex had removed the glasses and had closed his eyes, and even Keats was looking away.

_Don't give up _

_It's just the weight of the world_

_When your heart's heavy_

_I…I will lift it for you_

Kurt blinked once, taken aback by the sumptuous voice that came floating into the room, and stared at Thad, for a moment believing that he was singing, but then clocked onto the fact that his mouth was still closed, and his eyes were wide in shock. Kurt looked, along with everyone else, to doorway and saw Luc, lounging against the doorframe with a smirk on his face, singing.

_Don't give up_

_Because you want to be heard_

Kurt felt his mouth hang open, having known that Luc's voice had to be good, because he had never heard a voice like that; it was rich, confident, smooth…_perfect_. He also didn't understand how Luc could be projecting when he was slumped in that position against the doorframe, not supporting his diaphragm at all.

_If silence keeps you_

_I…I will break it for you_

Luc smirked at Thad, shooting him a knowing wink. Kurt snorted at that, feeling amazed that Luc had appeared at the right moment and had picked the perfect song, and could see that Thad's face had broken out into a grin of relief, happiness, and his posture had relaxed completely. All the other boys were smiling, even Keats had a faint one, but Mrs Daniels looked furious.

_Everybody wants to be understood_

_Well I can hear you_

Luc straightened up, unfolding his arms and arching an eyebrow at Thad, and Kurt could completely see why Thad liked Luc because, not only was he an absolutely unbelievably incredible singer, he was telling Thad that he understood that Thad couldn't speak all the time – he couldn't sing right now when he most needed to – but Luc was there to help.

_Everybody wants to be loved_

_Don't give up_

_Because you are loved_

Luc's voice rose in volume as he got to the end of the chorus, and both of his eyebrows arched even further. He was staring right at Thad, whose whole face had lit up, and the class looked more engaged and attentive than they ever had when Mrs Daniels was talking…Perhaps that was why Mrs Daniels looked like she wanted to intervene and shout for them to stop.

When Luc stopped singing, he gave Thad a very pointed look. Kurt watched Thad swallow and nod, and he sat up a little straighter in expectation for Thad's voice. Thad swallowed once again, turning to the front of the class and straightening up so that he could confront Mrs Daniels on his own.

_Don't give up_

_It's just the hurt that you hide_

_When you're lost inside_

_I…I'll be there to find you_

Thad's voice was timid and fragile. Kurt could hear that it was perfectly in tune, and there was no hesitation when he changed note, but… Kurt couldn't put his finger on what it was because there was nothing wrong with what he was singing, but it sounded…_unconvincing_…? That, and the confidence in his stature had vanished. However, he could also hear the honesty and simplicity in his tone…Kurt thought he meant it, but he couldn't be sure.

_Don't give up_

_Because you want to burn bright_

Somehow, out of nowhere, came the memory of what Keats had written about Thad in his poem;

…_The stars fall down upon you…_

_…The Morning Star that shone so bright,_

_Is nothing more than a cold reminder of all that could have been…_

and thought about Thad's fall from grace in Dalton and wondered whether showing off his voice like that was ever going to claw back what he'd once hand…He had to admit he couldn't see it.

_If darkness blinds you_

_I…I will shine to guide you_

Then, completely by surprise, on the second "_I_", something came bursting out from inside Thad. The volume increased dramatically, filling the room almost like Luc's had, and somehow the fragility vanished. It was incredible, especially given how Thad's shoulders were hunched, and he looked like there was no way that he was singing what he was…

_Everybody wants to be understood_

_Well I can hear you_

_Everybody wants to be loved_

_Don't give up_

_Because you are loved_

_ (You are loved)_

Kurt had been so absorbed in Thad's voice, his song and his really strange demeanour – the way he seemed to have no confidence or presence, but was singing in a manner that sounded like it wasn't his; like he was lip-syncing, but he wasn't – that he completely missed the entry of the other boys that had decided to sing backing. Nick, David, Juri, along with several other people, had chimed in, but Kurt had completely forgotten that that happened in the song and hadn't even considered the idea of joining in until that moment.

_You are loved_

_(You are loved)_

He came in the second time round with a smile on his face because this was so weird – they were singing in their _History_ classroom! – and they were being allowed to do so. Mrs Daniels had managed to arrange her face so that it was strangely neutral, but Kurt could tell that this was not going the way she planned at all given that half the classroom was singing backing to Thad, but she couldn't tell them to stop because it was she that had ordered Thad to sing in the first place.

_Don't give up_

_(Don't give up)_

_It's just the weight of the world_

_Don't give up_

Kurt glanced at the doorway, expecting to see Luc smirking at the scene that he had created, but he was surprised to find that the music teacher had melted away somewhere in the song. Kurt supposed that he didn't want to be around when the song ended and Mrs Daniels undoubtedly tore into him for assisting Thad. He also guessed that Luc knew that Thad could handle the song on his own once he'd started.

_Everyone needs to be heard_

_You are loved…_

They let Thad take the final line on his own, and Thad let the note hang from his lips, reverberating in the still air of the classroom, before he fell silent. Kurt swallowed once, silently amazed by Thad's voice, and then joined in the applause that was sweeping through the classroom. Thad immediately dropped into his seat, scarlet faced, as Nick patted his arm.

"Quiet!" exclaimed Mrs Daniels, and the applause died instantly. Kurt knew that she hadn't been expecting the performance that she had gotten; it had been a strange one, but Kurt got the impression that it was heartfelt, and Kurt could tell that she hadn't particularly wanted it. "Now, that _that_ is over, can we _please_ move on into more important topics?"

Kurt snorted under his breath at that because Mrs Daniels had generated that detour completely and was relieved to see that the lesson was nearly over so that he could go to French. The only downside to that was that QT were in his French class, and they, unlike Morrison, did not bother to try and catch up, which meant they delayed the lesson and asked stupid and pointless questions whilst also voicing their idiotic opinions at the tops of their voices.

They were completely awful people in Kurt's, and most other peoples', opinion, and he most disliked their attitude to the rest of the school. They turned their noses up at people in the hallway and class and expected people in the corridors to part for them, despite holding no position in the school and having done nothing to earn their respect. Kurt had heard enough of their sneering over extra-curricular activities that were mentioned near them to know that they thought all of that was beneath them, and they knew very few people's names as well and seemed to think that there was no point in trying to learn any more.

Mrs Daniels spent the rest of the lesson glaring at the class and snapping at people, which wasn't that unusual, and Kurt was very glad when the bell went because that meant he could throw his books into his bag and fall into step next to Keats as they all swarmed out of the classroom.

"Did you know that Thad could sing like that?" he asked, the moment they were clear of the classroom. Keats nodded, copying Kurt as he twisted around to look at the still scarlet Thad as most of the other people in the class mobbed him.

"Yeah…I mean, I don't think I've ever actually heard him sing like that, but…I knew he could; you've probably heard that he used to be huge…The Warblers raved about his voice when he joined." Keats blinked once, head tilting to the side. "It was better than I imagined, actually." Kurt nodded, mind turning back to what had started the whole thing.

"Could she- I mean, could he really lose his scholarship for not singing solo?" Keats tilted his head to the side a little bit more, pulling a thoughtful face.

"I doubt it," he said, finally. "I mean, there's no way Hammonds would allow it, and Luc would probably throw a fit too, but I think Mrs Daniels has a thing about it because Thad didn't get his scholarship by arranging music, or whatever he does on Warbler council, and I think Mrs Daniels believes that he should be giving his voice back to the school, or something…" he shrugged as Kurt frowned because, whilst Thad didn't sing, he obviously _did_ contribute to the music department. "It would never happen." Kurt nodded, still frowning and wondering why Mrs Daniels thought that _she_ had the authority to take away someone's scholarship, or why she thought it mattered that _she_ didn't think he deserved it.

"It's bullying, isn't it?" he said in a soft voice, pulling a face and turning to face Keats. Keats frowned in thought, pursing his lips.

"In all honesty…" he replied in a very quiet tone of voice. "I'm not sure." He looked distinctly uncomfortable, and Kurt couldn't blame him; the idea was unsettling. The warning bell went. "I need to go to Maths…" he took a deep breath. "Just- don't worry." He put a hand on Kurt's upper arm, squeezing in reassurance before Kurt nodded, and Keats darted away.

Kurt heaved a sigh and made his way to French with a heaviness in his body because Mrs Daniels wasn't _pleasant_ – she never had been – but what she'd done today had genuinely disturbed Kurt. He didn't think the other boys were too upset by it all once Thad had sung, but Kurt knew what bullying looked like better than the other people in that classroom, and the threats and the humiliation that she had subjected Thad to had been painfully – _worryingly_ – relatable.

He let out another sigh as he made it to French, Madame Leblanc giving him a glare from over the frame of her glasses, and he plopped down into his seat next to Fred as Quinn or Taylor – Kurt couldn't be bothered to find out which one was which because he doubted they'd ever afford him the same courtesy – demanded that they recap the environment topic for strictly their sake because everyone else could say far too much about litter, dirty air and recycling for their liking.

Kurt let out a groan as Madame Leblanc, a little too easily flattered by two very un-smooth boys, began to write up vocab on the board, and Fred dropped his head onto the desk and moaned. Kurt reached over and patted his friend on the back in sympathy because he didn't want to listen to two baboons attempting to converse in a foreign language when their own was well beyond their mental capabilities.

It was an incredibly tedious lesson, and Kurt was completely unsurprised when Fred began snoring about halfway through. Kurt had then taken to jabbing him at intermittent periods throughout the rest of the lesson to stop him from alerting Madame Leblanc to his passed out nature. The rest of the time he ran through the song lyrics in his head and tried to stop his mind from turning back to what Mrs Daniels had done because it made him feel very uncomfortable.

The final bell took far too long to arrive, and by that time Kurt was absolutely sick of his song, and Fred had slobbered all over his textbook. Kurt had to laugh at that, and it took him quite a long time to shake Fred from his rather deep slumber. Vince and Stuart gave him small smiles and rolled their eyes as they went past, and QT flounced from the room, completely in step, and barged Warwick – a boy in his house that Kurt had never actually spoken to – into the door. It was Warwick's profuse swearing, as he'd banged his head against the door and cut it, that managed to wake Fred properly, and he ran from the room shouting something about soldering irons and buttermilk…Kurt took that to mean that he'd been having a highly unusual, but very _Fred_, dream.

He left the classroom and proceeded along to Warbler hall, beginning to feel nervous again, and walked in a hurried manner because the last thing that he wanted was to be late for an occasion like this. He knew it was illogical because he was the fifth performance, and there was no way he could be _that_ late, but he was worried that if he wasn't there bang on time they'd skip over him and not give him the chance to perform.

When he got there, he was incredibly relieved to find that they hadn't started at all. Most people were standing around and listening to Nick tell the story of what had happened in History. Thad was sitting in his seat at the council table with a frown on his face that said he was thinking very hard about something. Most people looked somewhere between shocked, amazed and confused.

"Could she do it?" asked Francis, head tilted to the side in confusion as Kurt settled himself down into one of the sofas. People looked between Thad and David for some answers.

"I don't think so," said David, confidently. "Hammonds is in charge over all, and Luc makes the decisions about who gets music scholarships, and he'd never take it away…" Thad nodded, rubbing a hand over his face.

"I sssspoke t-t-t-to Luc…he ssssaid…_never_…" People nodded, letting out sighs of what sounded like relief, and took their seats as the Seniors walked. Blaine had had a very concerned look on his face, but he looked better at the sight of Sebastian, who winked at him with a smirk before settling himself down on the arm of Blaine's sofa.

"Right," said Wes, banging his gavel, and Kurt glanced over at Trent to make sure that he was okay. The new Warbler was looking at Wes in excitement, and Kurt smiled as he turned back to the council because he seemed to be completely fine. "the antics of Mrs Daniels aside, let's get down to business; Sebastian, Blaine, would you care to get your arses of the sofa and up here to perform." There were snorts and chuckles at that. Blaine was rolling his eyes as he got to his feet, shaking his head in amusement at Wes. Sebastian huffed and got up and walked over to pick up a guitar.

"Alright, calm down," said Sebastian. "stop being so prissy, and Blaine stop biting your lip; it's an unattractive habit, and it turns me off." Blaine went scarlet as Kurt let out a small snort through his nose. The other Warblers either cackled at Blaine's expense – Wes and the other Juniors, mainly – or looked mortified on Blaine's behalf.

"Shut up," groused Blaine, running a hand down his face with a look that questioned his sanity for going out with Sebastian. Kurt wasn't even going to pretend that he wasn't he half wishing that Blaine was doing that for real instead of because Sebastian embarrassing him. Sebastian simply rolled his eyes and began to play the intro, silencing the titters that were rippling around the Warblers with a couple of chords.

_You never know when you're gonna meet someone_

Sebastian began to sing first, and Kurt sat up just a little bit, recognising that the same quality to his voice as when he'd sung _She Will Be Loved_; it was that little bit of emotion that crept in and turned Sebastian from a good singer to an _amazing_ one.

_And your whole wide world in a moment comes undone_

Blaine flushed once more as Sebastian's eyes swept away from the Warblers, unconcerned by them now that he knew he had their full attention, and locked straight onto Blaine. Blaine felt his breath get stuck somewhere in his wind pipe because he could never quite get over the fact that he had managed _change_ Sebastian, and it was even stranger to hear him openly singing about it.

_You're just walking around and suddenly _

Kurt was pretty sure that Blaine had been seconds from missing his entry because one moment he'd been staring into Sebastian's eyes, and the next he had started and then began singing, blushing _even more_ – Kurt was pretty sure that Blaine could blush deeper than anything other person that Kurt had met; it was really quite remarkable.

_Everything that you thought that you knew about love is gone_

Blaine felt awful as he sang that line because every time that he did – _every time_ – he thought about Garth. He thought about two pairs of green eyes; one living, one dead, and he felt awful because he'd been so sure that he'd been in love with Garth, but he hadn't been because it was nothing compared to how he felt for Sebastian, and it made Sadie Hawkins seem so stupid because he'd asked him there because he was sure it was love, but it hadn't been…He'd ruined Garth's life for nothing…

_You find out it's all been wrong_

But Sebastian always cut back in at just the right time to stop Blaine from bursting with guilt, and Blaine was still – days later – getting over the fact that Sebastian hadn't been with anyone since the Keats debacle because he'd been waiting _for Blaine_…He'd found a better way to live his life…A way that included Blaine being in the centre of it.

_And all my scars don't seem to matter anymore_

Kurt felt a smile spread across his face as he watched the two of them, the fact that they were singing a love song to each other fading into the background, because Blaine really _did_ deserve this, and so very much more. He had suffered so much at the hands of people from Kinzie – and his fight with Keats had left its marks too – and the least that he deserved after all of that was someone who loved him and cared for him, and he had that.

_Cause they led me here to you_

Blaine had to admit that, on balance, it was nearly worth it all. Garth was the one thing that stopped him saying that it was _definitely_ worth it, but he would rather his suicide have succeeded than never have come here at all…His friends were wonderful, and Sebastian was _everything_…Blaine would take it.

_I know that it's gonna take some time_

_I've got to admit that the thought has crossed my mind_

_This might end up like it should_

Kurt watched Blaine as his voice rose in volume and confidence, taking a couple of steps closer to Sebastian, but somehow making the performance less intimate. Kurt, and everyone else in the room, could hear Blaine's tentative hope that _this_ time things weren't going to end in pain and devastation. Kurt thought it was that – the desperate desire for this to not be another disappointment that may break him – that really touched them all.

_And I'm gonna say what I need to say_

_And hope to God that it don't scare you away_

_Don't wanna be misunderstood_

Kurt even had to smile at Sebastian when he took over because it was in songs that he seemed to have the ability to be to be completely honest. He took a couple of steps away from Blaine, beginning to build a performance out of what they were singing as Blaine blinked before taking some steps towards him, chasing the person that he loved and the words that helped him believe that he wouldn't possibly lose him no matter what.

_But I'm starting to believe that this could be the start of something good_

Their voices joined together for the first time, and it was the combination of Sebastian's confidence and Blaine's tentativeness that made it so special. The two forces of their voices pushing against each other, but not battling or competing – coexisting in the way that Blaine and Sebastian did as two completely different people that somehow fitted together quite well.

Blaine looked up at Sebastian and saw that the smile that was playing on his lips was not his usual performance smirk, but his genuine smile. Blaine knew that Sebastian had complete and utter confidence in most of the things that he did, but this was one of the few areas of life that he had no experience in and no idea how to navigate. He knew that Sebastian had confidence now. Sebastian knew he could do this.

_Everyone knows life has its ups and downs_

Blaine smirked as he walked away from Sebastian, one eyebrow cocked in a manner that demanded Sebastian to challenge the fact that Blaine knew better than anyone that life had its dizzying heights and terrifying lows and that sometimes they could coincide and overlap and leave you a mess.

_One day you're on top of the world and one day you're the clown_

Sebastian didn't follow him, backing away so that the distance between them swelled. Blaine knew that Sebastian had never really experienced anything like the falls that Blaine had, but Blaine did know that watching them and experiencing the fallout from those pained Sebastian just as much.

_Well I've been both enough to know_

_That you don't wanna get in the way when its working out_

_The way that it is right now_

_You see my heart I wear it on my sleeve_

Blaine had to admit, as he wondered towards the door with his hands behind his back and tiny smile on his face, that he probably only got as hurt as he much because he didn't really do things by halves. When he'd fallen in love with Sebastian he'd done it wholly and completely; so much so that it scared him.

_Cause I just can't hide it anymore_

However, he forgot about all of that when Sebastian sung back to him because Sebastian didn't exactly do things in halves either…Blaine just knew that it had taken him longer to accept and understand that he loved Blaine…He wasn't ashamed of it, and he'd shout it to the world…

_I know that it's gonna take some time_

_I've got to admit that the thought has crossed my mind_

_This might end up like it should_

He had to admit that he could believe in him and Sebastian better now. He knew that now he knew that they could get back together after a fight that it was easier to believe that they would last. He had no misconceptions about how easy it was going to be because he and Sebastian saw things so differently, but he also knew that they could do this – they would make it because they _wanted_ to.

_And I'm gonna say what I need to say_

_And hope to God that it don't scare you away_

_Don't wanna be misunderstood_

He also knew, as Sebastian leaned against the wall and stared at him, that things were only going to work if Sebastian told Blaine what he was thinking, even if it risked freaking Blaine out because the alternative was Blaine running off and breaking down. He knew that Sebastian was worried about Blaine not being ready and being frightened away as result, but Blaine trusted Sebastian implicitly.

_But I'm starting to believe that this could be the start_

_Cause I don't know where it's going_

_There's a part of me that loves not knowing_

_Just don't let it end before we begin_

Kurt felt strange watching the performance with a smile on his face because it was strange how easily they had opened the performance up to everyone in the room; everyone in the room could empathise with the fear of false hope and the feeling that this was perfect and that if things could stay that way then it always would be. Neither of their presences were overbearing; perfectly balanced against each other, and there was nothing very showy about it – they were just singing very simply and very honestly.

_You never know when you gonna meet someone_

_And your whole wide world in a moment comes undone_

_I know that it's gonna take some time_

_I've got to admit that the thought has crossed my mind_

_This might end up like it should_

Blaine raised his voice to the loudest that it could be without it being unbearable or overpowering. He walked back towards the council table and saw, out of the corner of his eye, that Wes was smirking, David was grinning in a stupid manner and Thad had a pleasant smile on his face – his friends were _way_ too invested in his romantic life if they were smiling like that over a duet.

_And I'm gonna say what I need to say_

_And hope to God that it don't scare you away_

_Don't wanna be misunderstood_

Sebastian copied Blaine's movement, wandering lazily over to him, as he continued to strum the guitar. He looked effortless and relaxed, and Blaine knew that it was only like this – lost in a song – that he could really connect with people he wasn't _really_ close to. Blaine loved Sebastian when he was like that even more than he loved Sebastian in general.

_But I'm starting to believe_

_Oh I'm starting to believe that this could be the start of something good_

Their voices trailed off as they reached the end of the song, standing before the Warbler council table either side of Wes. Blaine took a deep breath in as he stared up at Sebastian, who had stopped strumming his guitar, and got a soft smile in return.

Kurt brought his hands close together, wanting to applaud them for their stunning performance but not wanting to destroy the wonderful atmosphere that had been created, and had to admit that if he lost to them then there would be no shame in it at all. Sebastian and Blaine broke eye contact, Blaine blushing, and looked at the Warblers. Just as Sebastian's eyebrow arched to demand why they weren't applauding, the Warblers burst into rapturous applause and cheers.

Kurt breathed in as Blaine made his way to his sofa. Sebastian resumed his position perched on the arm as the clapping began to die away. Wes picked up Gavella and banged her a couple of times until silence fell. He cleared his throat, but Kurt could see the smile that was tweaking at the corners of his mouth.

"Alright, that's what you have to beat…No pressure." Kurt swallowed, having to admit that the bar had been set higher than he had anticipated. Looking around the room, he could see that Trent's eyes were slightly wide at the performance, and Tyler was pale white at going next. "Tyler, would you like to do us the honour of going next?" Tyler gulped, loudly, and a ripple of laughter sounded around the Warblers as the Freshman got to his feet.

"Whenever you're ready," said David, kindly, shooting the boy an encouraging smile. Tyler nodded, taking a couple of deep breaths, and came to a stop in the corner of the room by the piano. He settled himself down, shifting his weight from foot to foot until he was comfortable.

_Desperate for changing, starving for truth_

_I'm closer to where I started, I'm chasing after you_

Kurt sat up in surprise when Tyler began to sing because his voice was much higher than he was expecting. It was in the same range that it had been in the play, but Kurt had assumed that he'd been singing in falsetto then because Kurt had been under the impression that _he_ was the only countertenor…unless his voice just hadn't broken yet.

_I'm falling even more in love with you_

_Letting go of all I've held on to_

_I'm standing here until you make me move_

_I'm hanging by a moment here with you…_

Kurt could hear more confidence building in his voice, and Kurt was taken aback by his choice to sing completely unaccompanied. Kurt, himself, had brought the backing track on a CD because it was awfully exposing to do it on his own. He sounded very good, but Kurt knew that if he slipped up at all it would be glaringly obvious. He had to admire Tyler's guts for getting up and doing that.

He could tell that Tyler was becoming more and more comfortable in his song, voice notching up in volume and any of that wavering sound was eclipsed by the firmness in his tone. Kurt had never heard the song sung in this way, and he had to admit that he liked it just as much as the original version. Whilst Lifehouse had a more gravelly sound, Tyler's voice was sweet and pure. Just like Sebastian and Blaine's the performance was completely simple, and Kurt thought that it was incredibly pleasing on the ear to hear. He sounded so much better than he had in the play, and Kurt got the impression that he was far more at ease than he had been last time. This competition was much tougher than Kurt had anticipated.

_There's nothing else to lose, there's nothing else to find_

_There's nothing in the world that can change my mind_

_There is nothing else…_

Kurt was fascinated by the intensity in Tyler's voice, and the way that it sounded like a reaffirmation of something – a _promise_ – and Kurt wondered whether he was singing about someone. It certainly sounded like he was, but Kurt knew that there could be so many things that he could be singing about that it was probably best not to speculate.

_Desperate for changing, starving for truth_

_I'm closer to where I started, I'm chasing after you_

Kurt had to been surprised by his choice to fade out earlier, but he understood, now, as he recapped the first two lines of the song; his voice a soft whisper, building up anticipation for the chorus that they all knew was coming.

_I'm falling even more in love with you_

_Letting go of all I've held on to…_

And, just like they all must have guessed, his voice came soaring back in as he charged, headlong and fearlessly, into the last chorus. Kurt knew that his gamble at singing unaccompanied had definitely paid off; he had shown the strength of his own voice as well as the confidence and poise that he had gained since the play. Back then he had been overcompensating for his nerves by shouting, but here he was calm and composed – he presented himself as a greater option than they may have previously considered. Worryingly enough, Kurt could see him fronting the Warblers in the next performance, and Kurt had to hope that the others weren't as good as this.

_I'm hanging by a moment_

_Just hanging by a moment here with you_

Kurt burst into applause along with all the others as Tyler let out a shaky breath, running a hand through his hair, scarlet faced, obviously trying to calm his racing heart down as he got off the adrenaline rush that was performing. Kurt took in his own steadying breath because it was Nick, then Warren and then _him_, and, somehow, he had to make himself stand out from all the others and present himself as the best option. There was _so_ much more competition here than in the New Directions.

"Excellent!" enthused Wes, beaming in a manner that suggested the auditions were pleasing him. "Nick, it's your turn." Kurt watched as Nick got to his feet and picked up on of the guitars, strumming the strings to double check they were in tune. Nick took a deep breath in and was shot an encouraging smile from Jeff, which was a little bit strange given that they were competing against each other for the lead.

_Standing_

_On the edge of forever_

_At the start of whatever_

_Shouting love at the world_

Kurt shifted in his seat, pleasantly surprised by Nick's song choice. After watching him at the New Year's Eve party, he had been expecting dancing and a lot of flirty looks with that "I-know-you-want-me-and-I-want-you-too-so-I'll-see -you-later-wink" smirk on his face.

_Back then_

_We were like cavemen_

_But we mapped the moon and the stars_

_Then we forgave them…_

It was immediately different to _Animal_, and Kurt could instantly see Nick's logic in his decision. This way he showed his diversity as a performer, and the versatility of his voice. It was nice and calm as a performance; the way he played the guitar was almost lazy and his posture was relaxed, and it dampened the tension and palpable feeling of nerves that was being generated by those auditioning.

_Although no one understood_

_We were holding back the flood_

_Learning how to dance the rain_

_We were holding back the flood_

_They said we'd never dance again…_

Nick came to life in the chorus, beginning to dance; crisscrossing his feet, swinging his hips and twisting his torso from his shoulders. It wasn't much of a routine, and Kurt got the impression that Nick was probably making it up as he went along; feeling his way through the song and not over thinking, but it was enough to give his previously very sedate performance a new dimension. He did it effortlessly and naturally, and Kurt could see it again; he was completely at home in his performance and song…not that Nick was ever one to really seem uncomfortable.

The most interesting thing, though, for Kurt, was the fact that Nick obviously didn't _feel_ the song. He wasn't singing about an emotion or a feeling for someone like Blaine and Sebastian had, but his performance was equally engaging. Kurt didn't exactly know what it was, but he knew that Nick was no worse off for not picking a song that he didn't feel. Kurt did remember, though, that Nick was the one that seemed to challenge Blaine and Sebastian the most, and Kurt could certainly see Nick as a lead; he was more charismatic than Tyler with a stronger presence too.

_We will meet you where the lights are_

_The defenders of the faith we are_

_When the thunder turns around_

_They'll run so hard we'll tear the ground away_

If Nick's song hadn't just resumed its soothing, calming quality, Kurt was pretty sure that his chest would close up completely in panic. He knew that he was good, he knew that he was unique, and he _knew_ that he could win this, but the doubts inside his mind were multiplying by the second.

_Although no one understood_

_There was more of them than us_

_Learning how to dance the rain_

_There was more of them than us_

_Now they'll never dance again_

Nick went spinning around the room on his last chorus, dancing in and out of the furniture, twisting between the different Warblers with his ever so charming smile on his face as he gave the song everything he had because he was running out of lines and notes to make his mark.

_Now we'll never dance again_

He came a stop, right in front of the Warbler council leaders, hand flicking away from his guitar in a dramatic manner after he'd done his final strum. He spun around to face the Warblers, taking a low, sweeping bow as Kurt joined the other Warblers in applauding him. Nick looked incredibly pleased with himself, like he knew just how good his performance had been, and he chucked the guitar at Warren as the dark haired boy got to his feet.

"I love this!" exclaimed Wes, rubbing his hands together in an excited manner. "Warren, please continue to make my day!" Warren bit down on the inside of lip, took in a composing breath, and hooked the guitar around his neck. He rubbed the faint shadow of stubble on his chin before looking around the room with a frown. Kurt watched, confused, as Warren continued to stand there in a moment of indecision. Wes arched an eyebrow and looked at David, who shrugged and gave a look that said they should wait.

"Sorry!" apologised Warren, taking the guitar off and moving over to the piano. "I just- I want to play the piano, is that alright?" Wes rolled his eyes as Thad rubbed a hand over his eyes and David gave him a smile.

"Of course you can use the piano!" Warren beamed in a very chipper manner and darted over to the piano, lifting up the lid that covered the keys and pulling out the stool. Warren took a deep breath, settling his fingers onto the keys and began to play.

_There's a cold voice on the air_

_You've been looking everywhere_

_For someone to understand your hopes and fears_

_Well I've thought about that for many long years_

Kurt had been listening to the intro with interest, not one hundred per cent sure he knew what the song was, but finally recognised it was one of Keane's songs. He could hear a frailty to Warren's voice that was almost masked by his loud piano chords. Kurt could understand why he'd chosen to play the piano given because it sounded more like the original, but he didn't think that he'd gotten the balance right.

_So I walk through Mansers Shaw_

_I don't see you anymore_

_We love to think about the way things were_

_But the time has come and I'm glad it's over_

He could hear the piano threatening to overpower Warren's voice, and he found himself desperately hoping that Warren could hear that too and do something about it. He was mildly surprised by that because if Warren got better than it was worse for Kurt, but…Kurt didn't want the Warbler that he didn't really know at all to flop this…He guessed it was hard to be backstabbing to any of the Warblers; they were too cheerful and friendly and warm to be bitchy towards, he supposed.

_I don't know why I waste my time_

_Getting hung up about the things you say_

_When I open my eyes and it's a lovely day_

_You know sometimes I feel like I'm_

_Getting snowed under with the things you say_

_When I open my eyes and it's a lovely day…_

However, Warren was failing to get it under check. Kurt supposed that he was probably nervous and not fully in control, but that surprised him a lot because of the Warren that he'd seen in the concert. On stage with his flute, Warren had played a beautiful piece of music – Kurt couldn't remember what it had been called because it was one of those pieces that didn't have a title but was called what it was, so to speak – in which he'd effortlessly performed seemingly complex passages as his fingers clicked the keys calmly and varied the tempo and dynamic of the music with utter assurance. In the concert, he'd also calmly directed the Concert Band and hadn't panicked at all when Juri had fallen over his own feet and knocked over the music stands. Kurt guessed that he must not be as self-assured with his voice as he was with everything else, and he had to admit that it was sad that he didn't have that same confidence because his voice would be _fine_ as long as it wasn't strained in an attempt to sound properly over the piano.

_You know sometimes I feel like I'm_

_Getting snowed under with the things you say_

_When I open my eyes and it's a lovely day_

His voice died away instantly when he got to the end of the song. The look on his face said that he knew that the performance wasn't as good as it could have been, despite getting the same level of applause as all the other performers. Kurt sucked in a huge breath as Warren ducked his head, closing the cover over the piano keys, and got to his feet. He shot Kurt a taut smile that said good luck, and Kurt stood up, resisting the urge to bite down on his lower lip.

He picked up the CD player from the corner of the room and set it down on the edge of the council table. He could see David had an excited grin on his face as he turned it on and inserted the CD. He looked around the room and got a winning smile from Blaine, along with two thumbs up, and bright grins and encouraging looks from everyone else. He took one last deep breath, composing himself and reaffirming his belief that he could do this, and pressed play.

He let the intro music filter out and watched the expressions shift into ones of interest and surprise. He had decided to cut the beginning from his performance because he'd felt utterly ridiculous doing without anyone standing before him as John, and he hadn't been sure whether talk-singing was serious enough for the Warblers.

_You think you own whatever land you land on_

_The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim_

_But I know every rock and tree and creature_

_Has a life, has a spirit, has a name_

He felt calmer the moment that he started singing. All the nerves that were pent up inside of him in anticipation melted away because this was not something that he had to worry about. His voice was soft, calm and mediating, and he _knew_ this song. _Pocahontas_ was a film that he had grown up watching, just like all the other _Disney_ animated classics, and he didn't have to worry because he'd had this song perfect by age _five_.

_You think the only people who are people_

_Are the people who look and think like you_

And, now, as a teenager, the lyrics held more resonance than ever because that was the suffering that he'd been subjected to at McKinley summed up in two lines; he was bullied because he was _different_; he didn't objectify women and get overexcited about running around in the freezing cold and getting muddy and sweaty, and because of that he was second class, second best and treated like he wasn't a person.

_But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger_

_You'll learn things you never knew you never knew_

And it was how he'd gotten the friends that he had in the New Directions; they had stepped out of their comfort zones and learned to look at their lives differently as they began to understand that there was more to each and every person than they thought. They'd learnt so much by listening to them sing and singing with them, and they had all learnt that their differences only ran skin deep. They had been strangers, but soon they were _friends_.

_Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon_

_Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?_

_Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains?_

_Can you paint with all the colours of the wind?_

_Can you paint with all the colours of the wind?…_

The volume of his voice rose naturally as he soared into chorus of the song. He could feel that all the tension had drained from his shoulders; his posture upright and correct, but also loose and relaxed, and he couldn't help but smile as he looked at all the upturned, smiling and attentive faces. Each Warbler looked completely engaged in his song, even Sebastian was watching him with an interested expression on his face. The council weren't smiling, but Wes and David had very focused looks in their eyes that said they were listening carefully and Thad's eyes were glazed over in a manner that suggested Kurt's song had taken him off elsewhere. Trent's mouth had curved up into a huge smile as he watched him sing, and his eyes were rounded in a way that told Kurt he'd probably never heard anyone sing like he had – and that was one the biggest compliments he could get.

_How high will the sycamore grow?_

_If you cut it down, then you'll never know_

_And you'll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon_

He could hear his voice reverberating around the hall, the vibrato ringing through majestically, and he knew that this was the best performance that he'd given the Warblers. The other two had been good, no doubt, but this was far better because he was…he hit every note without even thinking, he could carry the song effortlessly, and he didn't have a sickening feeling of nerves or something twisting in his stomach.

_For whether we are white or copper skinned_

_We need to sing with all the voices of the mountains_

_We need to paint with all the colours of the wind_

_You can own the Earth and still_

_All you'll own is Earth until_

_You can paint with all the colours of the wind_

He knew that this wasn't a message that any of the boys at Dalton needed because he knew that they all understood that everybody was equal, and everybody deserved to be loved no matter who they were and that they needed to be united and as one. Most of all, though, these boys knew that there was much more to life than _owning_ something; loving someone and being loved in return was worth far more than that.

He took a deep breath in as the backing track came to an end, and he reached over to press stop, smiling around the room and soaking up the applause that he was getting. He took his CD out, slipping it back into his pocket, and he retook his seat, trying to suppress his smile slightly because it was turning into a triumphant smirk because he could _win_ this. He knew that he had been easily as good as Blaine and Sebastian, who had probably been the best performance so far, and that meant he could go all the way and lead the Warblers in the impromptu next week.

He pressed those feelings down, though, because the competition wasn't over yet; he had many more hoops to jump through before he could have that honour, and there were three more performers to go. Liam was getting to his feet, and Kurt straightened his face as the blonde boy picked up his guitar. He took a look around the room once, taking in all the expectant expressions, before beginning to strumming the intro as people stretched and trained their gaze back onto Liam.

_I walk a lonely road_

_The only one that I have ever known_

_Don't know where it goes_

_But it's home to me and I walk alone_

Kurt found himself smiling as Liam began to sing because Kurt was glad that he was performing the song without the electronic guitar tremolo underneath because that grated his ears; he'd actually given up on that version and had gone back to the cast recording of it, sort of proving that it was possible for covers to be better than the original.

_I walk this empty street_

_On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams_

_Where the city sleeps_

_And I'm the only one and I walk alone_

Kurt watched Liam roll his shoulders, whilst still playing, and seem to loosen up his posture. He sounded confident and assured, but Kurt knew that he wasn't quite on the same level as himself, Sebastian, Blaine and Nick. Tyler had been amazing, but Kurt reckoned that he fell just under the level that he perceived himself and those previously mentioned to be on…though that wasn't to take anything away from Liam's talent because he was _amazing_…Kurt just knew that there were people better than him in the Warblers.

_I walk alone_

_I walk alone_

_I walk alone_

_I walk a..._

_My shadow's the only one that walks beside me_

_My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating_

_Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me_

_'Til then I walk alone…_

Kurt had to admit that he _really liked_ the simple style of his performance. He stood there with the guitar looped around his neck, confidently playing his way through the guitar riff, and sang, weight perfectly balanced between his legs which were shoulder width apart. He had a startling honesty in his voice that was rather shocking given the utterly depressing nature of the song and how it was about loneliness and sadness. Kurt knew that Liam had plenty of friends and was perfectly happy, but there was something so downtrodden in his tone that it made him want to leap to his feet and hug the blonde boy.

He refrained from that, naturally, and instead chose to look around at the expressions on the different Warblers' faces. Most people looked captivated by the performance; spell bound and riveted, but Wes' eyebrows were arched in a manner that made him look highly surprised. In fact, the two members of the council also had different expression; Thad had a faint frown creasing up his forehead and David had sucked in his cheeks and pushed out his lips so that he had a rather strange expression on his face. Blaine had his head tilted to the side at an excessive angle and looked rather far away whilst Flint was shifting around in his seat in a nervous manner, and Sebastian tapped his fingers against his leg in a manner that was either a nervous tic or an expression of impatience.

_I walk this empty street_

_On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams_

_Where the city sleeps_

_And I'm the only one and I walk a..._

Liam's voice rose a little bit in pitch as he recapped the second verse, probably mimicking the way that – in the soundtrack – John Gallagher Junior's voice was joined by Rebecca Naomi Jones', even as he dropped the volume of his voice as it was the only way to notch down the intensity of the performance without ceasing his acoustic accompaniment.

_My shadow's the only one that walks beside me_

_My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating_

_Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me_

_'Til then I walk alone..._

He did do the last line unaccompanied, voice low and soft, a mournful, reflective tone lingering in their ears. Liam stared into the room for a moment, and no one clapped because he seemed completely fixated by something. Eventually, though, he sagged slightly, huffing and rolling his eyes, and everyone took that as their cue to burst into applause for him. Liam nodded once in acknowledgement, taking off the guitar and extending it to Jeff as the blonde Junior picked his over.

"Penultimate performance!" said Wes, rubbing his hands together with a rather manic glint in his eye. Sebastian yawned, stretching so that his back clicked, and cast his friend a disparaging look.

"Penultimate performance of the _first round_," he shot back. "There's a _very_ long way to go." Wes glared at Sebastian, silently telling him to shut up, as Jeff plucked each of the guitar strings and Thad nodded at him – Kurt had no idea what that about – and then took a deep breath as he settled his fingers on the frets.

Immediately, the rather upbeat sound of Jack Johnson began to fill the hall. Jeff had an easy smile on his face that told Kurt that this was going to be a short, sweet, cheerful and chirpy performance. Well, it would certainly help to put a smile back on everyone's face after Liam's audition.

_There's no combination of words_

_I could put on the back of a postcard_

_No song that I could sing_

_But I can try for your heart…_

Kurt almost rolled his eyes at how easy it had been to predict the sunny tone in Jeff's voice, and how effective it was. Kurt reckoned that it probably worked better on him than anyone else, though, because the phrase "_no combination of words_" had instantly reminded him of Keats and all of what they'd said about talking too much and being simple, words being precious and speaking without words.

_Love is the answer_

_At least for most of the questions in my heart_

_Like why are we here? And where do we go? And how come it's so hard?_

_It's not always easy and_

_Sometimes life can be deceiving_

Jeff was swaying and bobbing along happily to his own song, looking completely at east and not at all like he was under any kind of pressure. He didn't make it look like it was an audition at all; he had really gone for something that he could sing easily and well and not thought about how it would showcase his voice in anyway or whether it had any meaning…or maybe it did…

_I'll tell you one thing it's always better when we're together_

_Mmm its always better when we're together_

_Yeah we look at the stars when we're together_

_Well It's always better when we're together_

_Yeah, it's always better when we're together…_

Kurt knew that Jeff really, _really_, loved his girlfriend and was completely over paranoid about her breaking up with him for whatever reasons that he thought she might, and he got the distinct impression – because, you know, it was _Jeff_ – that this was the kind of thing that he would serenade her with. Kurt saw a quick imagining of Blaine, cheeky grin in place and sparkle in his eyes, singing that to _him_ and felt himself colour up instantly, both in embarrassment at his fantasy and the feelings he knew that he would feel if that would ever happen. It was such a simple declaration of feelings that, coupled with Jeff's adoring grin that said just singing a song about their love made him happy, it was incredibly powerful.

Also, though, he could see that Jeff kept looking over at him and their other friends with that same grin. Oh, how he loved Dalton. How much he loved the fact that a guy could get up and declare his completely platonic love for his friends in a room that was filled with boys that were grinning at him in a teasingly affectionate manner and would brush it off as completely normal.

_I believe in memories_

_They look so, so pretty when I sleep_

_Hey now, and when I wake up_

_You look so pretty sleeping next to me_

Jeff hopped around the room, dancing between outstretched legs and feet, until he was balancing on the sofa arm next to Kurt. Kurt looked up at him with a grin as Jeff leant against the back, stretching out in a languid fashion, and beamed around the room. He got a lot of cheesy grins in return.

_But there is not enough time_

_And there is no, no song I could sing_

_And there is no combination of words I could say_

_But I will still tell you one thing_

_We're better together_

His song drew to a close as he went through the lyrics that sounded like rambling, and Kurt had to admit, sadly, that Jeff's performance probably didn't match up to the highest bar that Kurt had set. He looked happy with his song either way as he took some rather deep bows as they all clapped him loudly. He grinned once to all of them as Wes cleared his throat;

"Alright, _brilliant_! Flint, last performance; no pressure, and Sebastian don't you dare." He pointed a finger at Sebastian with a glare, and Sebastian closed his mouth looking smug. Flint got to his feet, looking rather sick, and Kurt felt bad for him for having to go last constantly. He pulled out a CD and, like Kurt, slotted it into CD player. He took a couple of deep breaths, and Kurt felt his heart go out to him because his hands were trembling terribly. He swallowed in annoyance at the memory of what Flint had said about his dad and all the pressure that was heaped upon Flint's shoulders.

"Breathe deeply," said David, leaning forward so that he could put a hand on Flint's lower arm. Kurt could see that Flint was becoming rather distressed as his hands shook. Blaine made to stand up, and the movement drew Flint's attention. Their gaze locked, and something – Kurt had no idea what – passed between them. Flint swallowed and hit play.

_Birds flying high you know how I feel_

_Sun in the sky you know how I feel_

_Breeze driftin' on by you know how I feel_

Kurt had barely a second to take in the tremolo string intro before Flint began to sing. He blinked, mildly surprised by the choice of song, and sat back as he let the expressive tone of voice wash over him. He sounded so relaxed that it was almost impossible to believe that just a moment before he had been almost having a panic attack about having to perform.

_It's a new dawn_

_It's a new day_

_It's a new life_

_For me_

_And I'm feeling good…_

Kurt felt a smile spread across his face as Flint reached the end of the first verse. He had a feeling that he knew where this was going. Flint was going to _ask out Dylan_! Kurt felt like leaping off the sofa in excitement and letting out a giant squeal and hugging Flint. He was _feeling good_ about this! He was looking forward to a new start with someone that liked him…Oh, he knew that feeling very well.

The brass in the backing track came crashing in, and Kurt felt his smile get wider as the confidence in Flint's voice seeped into his posture. He glanced around the room – seeing that most people looked amazed, and their close friends looked mostly confused – and saw that Blaine's eyes had widened and happy smile had spread across his face. Kurt guessed that Flint had probably spoken to Blaine about his feelings, and Blaine, like Kurt, had probably advocated that Flint went for it; he looked overjoyed at the prospect of Flint getting together with someone.

He saw Blaine's gaze flicker over to him for a brief second, perhaps catching sight of Kurt's staring out of the corner of his eye, and then turned back to Kurt. They shared knowing smiles as they silently communicated their excitement and hope at what Flint was singing with such confidence and assurance. He felt good; he felt sure; he was going for it. Blaine rolled his eyes once as if to say "_at last_!", and Kurt snorted and turned his attention back to Flint.

_Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know_

_Butterflies all havin' fun you know what I mean_

_Sleep in peace when the day is done, thats what I mean_

_And this old world is a new world_

_And a bold world_

_For me, for me_

Kurt found, though, that what surprised him the most about the performance – more than the boldness of his action – was the versatility of his voice. He sounded so different to when he'd sung _The Only Exception_ and _My Interpretation_. In Paramore's song he had shown a vulnerability and fear, and in Mika's he had been defiant and passionate and angry. Here he was hopeful, expectant and ready to dive headfirst into whatever was waiting for him.

_Stars when you shine you know how I feel_

_Scent of the pine you know how I feel_

_Oh freedom is mine_

_And I know how I feel_

_It's a new dawn_

_It's a new day_

_It's a new life_

_It's a new life_

_For me_

Flint's eyes had closed as he had become absorbed in his own song. He was clearly lost in whatever things he was envisioning how things would be different. He could see that most people were staring at him in slack jaw wonder given that he sounded a million times better than in the play – and that was saying something because he had been _outstanding_ in that – and their other friends were either pleased or, in the case of Nick, highly confused.

_And I'm feeling good_

_I'm feeling good_

_I feel so good_

_I feel so good_

Kurt swallowed at the end of that, clapping enthusiastically, because, whilst it had been wonderful to hear and an amazing performance, he was easily as good as Sebastian and Blaine and Kurt…He was probably better than _Nick_ on balance. This was a serious competition.

"Alright," said Wes, grinning in an unrestrained manner. "that was an _amazing_ first round! Seriously, this is gonna take _a lot_ of time! So, all of you that auditioned if you'd like to make your way outside, we need to get down to business." Kurt got to his feet, running a hand down the grey material of his trousers to get rid of the perspiration that had built up on his palms throughout that process.

Kurt followed the other boys out into the corridor, and they sat down on the benches and in armchairs in complete silence. Strangely enough, there was a greater feeling of tension in the hall then there had been whilst they'd been singing their solos. Kurt guessed that the anticipation was starting to build up inside all of them again.

They sat in complete silence, everyone too tense and nervous to talk. Kurt knew that, logically, it wouldn't make sense if he hadn't gone through, but there would be no way of knowing for sure until Blaine came out to announce who hadn't made it. He kept his mind focused on his breathing as best he could – as well as staring at the tiled floor between his feet – because that stopped his mind from whirring off hyperactively, and it meant that he couldn't quite panic and go into some form of undignified frenzy.

Kurt felt his breath hitch as the sound of shoes on the flagstone floor alerted them to Blaine's approach. Looking up, his neck felt very stiff because he'd been staring at the floor for some period of time, Kurt watched the neatly dressed Warbler walking towards the group. He glanced sideways and noticed that the other boys were straightening up, glancing hesitantly towards the lead, and Kurt could feel his heart began to beat faster.

"You guys were all great," he said, and Kurt rolled his eyes because he just wanted to know who had gone through. "but…" he drew out the word, and Kurt could feel his jaw clenching because he _needed_ to know. "I'm really sorry, but, Kurt, you didn't go through."

_What?_

Kurt felt his heart skip a beat as the information processed with his brain. He stared up at Blaine, mouth falling slightly open, as the other boys let out mild sighs of the relief. They got to their feet as Kurt sat there, unable to comprehend what had happened. Nick, Jeff and Flint embraced each other, and he got pats on the shoulder in conciliation, but he still didn't get it.

_How can I not have gone through? I was- I was better than the others! I mean, they were __**good**__, but I __**know**__ I was better than Jeff and Warren and Liam. How did this happen?_

"Kurt?" Kurt looked up at Blaine, who was staring down at him in concern, and let out a sigh, hoping that his eyes were just wide and not watering.

"I really thought that I was going to get it," he admitted, and Blaine gave him a reassuring smile, dropping down onto the bench next to him.

"You were great," he said, firmly, and Kurt let out a dismissive sound because if he'd been so great than why had he gone out in the first round? "No, seriously," said Blaine, touching his arm and forcing Kurt to look at him. Kurt glanced up into sincere hazel eyes and temporarily forgot how to argue. "you were _great_ it's just…" Blaine sighed, and Kurt frowned a little bit. "You just- you just didn't show us anything that then we didn't already know." Kurt frowned further, not sure what that was meant to know.

"What does that mean?" he asked, swallowing, and Blaine let out a long sigh.

"I _mean_, that we know you've got an amazing voice and that you're a countertenor, but…that doesn't mean you'd make a good lead." Kurt continued to frown, still not sure what Blaine meant. Blaine sighed again, brown furrowing in thought. "Look, being a lead isn't about being the best person on stage and the best singer – it's about having a different part." Kurt stared at him, blankly. Blaine swallowed and sighed once more. "Look, when they arrange the music the lead is just another part that they have to fit in; everything isn't focused _around_ you…it just means the spotlight is _on _you…it's about the responsibility to stand up and be our representative, and you haven't shown that you can do that; you've just shown us _you_…we know you're good, but…we can't vote for you."

Kurt let out a long sigh, shoulders slumping and gaze falling to the ground. He couldn't believe that he had managed to misjudge it the situation so badly. He supposed that he ought to have figured that out from the songs that he had heard the Warblers perform – show tunes weren't really their style – but he had thought it was about _his_ voice, not how the Warblers could use it.

"I'm sorry," said Blaine, hand falling onto Kurt's shoulder, and Kurt shrugged because it wasn't Blaine's fault. "No, I mean it, I- I messed up." Kurt looked up at him in surprise, frowning some more. Blaine sighed, looking at him with such regret that it made Kurt want to reach over and hug him. "I told you to do something simple, and I forgot that you wouldn't be singing a pop song like the rest of us would…" he broke off, shrugging. "I just- I was such an idiot to think that you wouldn't automatically be singing that, you know?" Kurt smiled at him, nodding.

"Blaine, it's- it's _fine_…It's not your fault any more than it is mine," he sighed. "I just- I _really thought_ that I'd have a chance at singing solo." He pursed his lips and shrugged, letting out a sigh when he couldn't find the words.

"You will," said Blaine, confidently, gaze boring into Kurt's and _telling_ him that Blaine was right. "next time you are a _cert_…Kurt, you give me and Bastian a _serious_ run for our money – you will get this, I promise." Kurt gave him a small smile, the corners of his mouth turning up at Blaine's earnestness and honesty.

"Okay, the next time I'll have you running for the hills in shame." Blaine broke out into a real smile, letting out a small laugh.

"I look forward to it," he said, getting to his feet and patting Kurt's arm. Kurt got up too, attempting to shake out the feelings of failure that were pressing down on him. "Now, come on, we'll need you to help with the nitty-gritty details of choosing the right lead." Kurt looked at Blaine, experiencing that painful pang that came from loving Blaine deeply and irrevocably with no prospect of having that feeling reciprocated or him ever knowing, and then smiled brightly too.

"Of course you'll need me, don't think for a second that I wouldn't vote to throw you out." Blaine laughed, putting his hands on Kurt's shoulders and squeezing tightly, making him intensely nervous and causing his heart to beat faster. It was strangely difficult to breathe as he was guided back to Warbler hall.

Choosing a lead, despite not being in the running himself, wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. He saw quickly that he had completely misunderstood what the Warblers were looking for in their potential leads' performances because, in the next round, Kurt voted for Warren whilst just about everyone else had voted off Liam. It had confused Kurt at first as Warren was the weakest singer, but, after hearing Warren performing again, he got that Warren's song as a whole was just _better_. Liam got very intense during the middle of his song, and it was confusing and off-putting. Warren was weaker, slightly, but he would be a better lead if he was simply fronting the Warblers.

After that, things were simpler as they all unanimously voted off Warren, Jeff, Tyler and Nick so that they were left with Flint against Sebastian and Blaine. Flint had looked dumbstruck when he and Nick came back in after the penultimate round, and Kurt had to admit that he was very endearing. Blaine even looked vaguely nervous as Flint gave his final performance, and Kurt got the impression that no one had come as close to toppling him and Sebastian as Flint had this time round.

However, in the end, Kurt had had to agree with the others and vote for Sebastian and Blaine. He had thought that Flint was just as good as them, but he didn't have quite the stage dynamic that Sebastian and Blaine did. There was something so enticing and charismatic about Blaine and Sebastian when they were performing together that it meant it would be very hard to come up with something that would beat it. That didn't mean, though, that there was no hope because Kurt reckoned that he could do it. It would take some time and careful thinking, but he could win lead off them.

Blaine threw his arms around Sebastian the moment he saw the hands go up in their favour. He could feel his heart hammering from relief for no real reason other than he got another duet with Sebastian, and maybe – just maybe – if they kept going, they might be able to win Regionals. If they kept practising, kept getting better, then maybe they stood a chance.

Sebastian shook him off pretty quickly, giving him a look that questioned Blaine's sanity for thinking they might lose, and so Blaine bounded over to hug Flint, who looked a little bit let down, as he grinned because Flint was _feeling good_! He was getting a _boyfriend_! Well, as long as Dylan said yes, which was a technicality that he was going to overlook because otherwise his good mood would die and he would rather that it didn't because, you know, he was _in a good mood_!

Blaine genuinely felt like dancing around the room and dragging Flint with him. When he drew back from squashing Flint, he could see that Flint was grinning in an embarrassed manner because he knew _exactly_ what Blaine was thinking. He knew that he and Kurt were going to descend onto Flint and demand to know everything that he was feeling the moment that they got out of Warbler hall. He got the impression that Flint knew that if his not so subtle attempts to shuffle away from Blaine were anything to go by.

"Alright!" exclaimed Wes, banging the gavel. "We have our leads! Tomorrow we begin with learning the piece! _And_ we practise on both days on the weekend! Do not forget! I will flay you all live if you do! You should fear my wrath! _Fear it_!" he brandished the gavel threateningly at all the people in the room as they all tried to not snicker at him.

"Okay," said Jeff, holding up his hands. "we fear you, now can we _please_ go? I'm _starving_!" There were titters and sniggers from all the boys.

"_Insubordination_!" roared Wes, waving his gavel around in a manner that made him look like a maniac. David snatched the gavel from him and banged it, dismissing the Warbler as Wes let out a furious cry of; "_Mutiny_!" and leapt at his friend, sending them crashing to the floor. The Warblers burst out laughing, and Blaine hooked his arm through Flint's and dragged him from the room.

The moment they were out, Kurt appeared by their side. Blaine shared a smile that was somewhere between evil and excited over Flint's head, and Kurt shot it right back and hooked his arm through Flint's. Flint let out a loud groan, and Blaine burst out laughing along with Kurt.

"If you thought that this wasn't coming than you're an idiot," commented Kurt, shooting Flint a disparaging look. Flint pouted and pulled out some puppy dog eyes that weren't very effective given that there was still his giddy happiness sparkling away inside them.

"Kurt's right," said Blaine, grinning at his friend. "you knew this was coming so spill." He gave Flint his best glare, and Flint huffed, rolled his eyes and grabbed onto their sleeves and proceeded to pull them to the side of the hall.

"Okay, so, I just- I thought it over, and I just- I kind of…" he trailed off, twisting his fingers together. Blaine gave him a sympathetic look that also told him to calm down. Flint took in a deep breath and shot them both a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I just- I reckoned you were both right. I know…I know that I _really_ like him…I'm really excited, but I'm terrified, but I'm more excited than that…" he trailed off again, looking really nervous, and Blaine glanced over at Kurt. Kurt was grinning in a manner that said he was utterly delighted by what Flint had just said.

"Well then, what are you waiting for?" demanded Kurt, eyebrow arching. Flint swallowed, blushing heavily under the gazes that he and Kurt were projecting onto him. "Go find your man!" Flint looked over at Blaine in a nervous manner. Blaine held up his hands in a calming gesture.

"Just remember to breathe," he said, calmly. "Take your time when you speak and make sure that you say everything that you want to before he does, or whatever." He reached forward and put a hand on Flint's shoulder, giving him a huge smile. "And no matter what happens; you are amazing, and you deserve the very best…Sometimes, though, it's really – _fucking_ – hard to get that." He heard Kurt snort, slightly, at what he'd said, but he kept staring at Flint because he didn't want Flint to get himself worked up into a state and bring himself down any more than he did every other day.

"Okay," said Flint, sucking in a huge breath and looking between the two boys with an almost fearful expression on his face. Blaine knew how terrifying the first plunge into this was, and he knew that Flint had a veritable _choir_ of self-doubting voices in his head that were ready to hinder him, but Blaine knew that Flint would feel better after this. Even if he was rejected, he knew that he had the courage to stand up and put himself on the line, which was something that Flint sorely needed. "I'm going, I'm going, I' _going_!" and with that last proclamation, Flint turned on his heel and walked away.

"_Yes_!" exclaimed Blaine, jumping up into the air in delight and throwing an arm around Kurt's shoulder and squeezing the taller boy slightly to him. He heard Kurt let out a mildly startled laugh, and he stumbled a little bit as Blaine's weight unbalanced. He felt Kurt's hand collide with his back as he patted him, but Blaine knew that this meant more to him than Kurt because Flint was moving on and he was being brave and he was building up some self-confidence, and they were all far too greatly invested in each other's love lives for it to be good.

"How do you think the conversation is going to go?" asked Kurt, looking at him in curiosity as Blaine detached himself from Kurt, and they began to walk. Blaine breathed in and pulled a thoughtful face because, in all his honesty and hope, he wasn't entirely sure.

"I don't know," he admitted, giving Kurt a tiny smile. "I mean, I'm friends with Dylan, and all, but we're not _close_, and this kind of thing is never something we've really talked about…except when he's teasing me about Sebastian." He rolled his eyes, and he could see Kurt rolling his eyes and smiling teasingly at him.

"Yes, well, I didn't even know who he was until Flint told me about him, but…when we came out of the assembly I saw them together, and they sort of looked…" Blaine looked at Kurt in interest as the Warbler searched for a word that would sum up what he'd seen.

"Flirty?" he suggested, eventually. "Couply?" Kurt shrugged, looking amused, and Blaine looked up at him with humorous eyes because he was glad that there was _someone_ he could tease about this – he couldn't really do it with Kurt because the whole dating Keats thing still made him a little uncomfortable – and he was glad that there was more evidence that this conversation was going to go well.

"Blaine!" Blaine blinked, surprised by the sound of Sebastian's voice, and turned around in time with Kurt so that their bags swirled around them and just missed hitting the other. Sebastian was hurrying down the hallway towards them. Blaine took a deep breath, feeling nervous, because Sebastian had a rather intent look in his eyes.

"Bastian?" he asked, trying to ask in one word whether everything – and there were a lot of things under that umbrella of a word – was okay. He watched Sebastian's eyes flickering towards the ceiling and deflated because that meant everything was fine and normal. He watched Sebastian's eyes dart once to Kurt, who shifted slightly but didn't move, before they turned back to Blaine.

"Blaine, I've been thinking, and I distinctly remember that I promised that we were going to do this properly-" Blaine nodded, slowly, not sure where this was coming from. "-and this can't really be "_the start of something good_" unless I do this right. So, baring all that in my mind, will you go out on a date with me on Saturday after Warblers?"

Blaine felt his breath get stuck somewhere in his throat at Sebastian's words, face colouring up and sincerely glad that it was only Kurt with them, and found himself tuning instinctively into the pounding of his heart that was telling him that his system was going haywire over the thought of going on a _date_ with Sebastian.

"Yes," he gasped out, having constrained his voice as much as he could so that a high pitched squeal didn't come out. "I would- I would _love_ to!" He grinned up at Sebastian, feeling ridiculously happy, and Sebastian nodded, a pleased expression spreading across his face. Blaine knew that he couldn't, given where they were, he could throw his arms around Sebastian and kiss him, but he sincerely wanted to. He wanted to dance around and sing and hug everyone and paint rainbows and sunshine everywhere, but he couldn't really do that either. He just had to stand there and beam at his rather awkward looking boyfriend.

"Good," said Sebastian, nodding in a fairly stiff manner, like he had no idea whether he had just done that right. "um…I'll see you later." Sebastian nodded once more and then turned around, striding down the hall way and out of sight. Blaine jumped up into the air once, allowing himself to be slightly more undignified now that it was just him and Kurt. He turned back to his friend and saw that Kurt had a mild frown on his face and was looking in the direction that Sebastian had gone. Blaine felt his smile die slightly at the sight of that and tilted his head to the side.

"Kurt?" he asked. "Everything alright?" He watched as Kurt started, blinked and then seemed to jerk himself away from his thoughts, turning back to Blaine with a small smile on his face.

"Sorry," he apologised, light tone of voice back and casual smile in place. Blaine blinked once, shaking his head because he didn't care that Kurt had zoned out, but Kurt was his friend and he wanted to know what he was thinking.

"No, it's fine," he said as they began to walk again. "I just- you alright?" He saw Kurt blink in apparent surprise, shoot him a confused look and then nod.

"Yeah, no, just…That was a surprisingly awkward conversation given what you'd just performed…I didn't think that there was anything wrong, but…?" he left the question open ended, but Blaine shot him a reassuring smile that said that everything between him and Sebastian was fine.

"No, it's just- me and Bastian don't really _talk_, you know? I mean, we flirt and hang out, but we don't _talk_…if you know what I mean?" he looked at Kurt questioningly, glad that he had a friend that he could talk to this about without merciless teasing; he knew that Kurt would tease him, but he wasn't as bad as the others. Kurt nodded, giving him an understanding smile.

"Yeah, I mean, I sort of know what you mean…Keats has this thing about words being precious and trying to make me talk _less_ so I guess I kind of know where you're coming from." Blaine snorted at that, glad that a smile was able to curve its way onto his lips, and nodded because that did sound like something that Keats would say.

"Most of the time it's just making out and stuff, and we keep getting walked in on!" he rolled his eyes and shook his head whilst Kurt chuckled at his expense. "Anyway, we don't talk as much as we used to, actually, and I guess…this is not something that we ever know how to do so we have nothing to say to each other." He shrugged, pulling a face, and Kurt gave him an encouraging smile.

"Maybe it will be easier when you're out of Dalton; you won't get teased and disturbed." Blaine nodded, but he had to admit that he felt apprehensive about going out with Sebastian…He could still _feel_ the cold blade of Holt's knife pressed against his neck…He shuddered, and Kurt's hand descended comfortingly onto his shoulder. "You'll be safe," intoned his friend softly, and Blaine looked up at him, desperately needing to hear this because the more he thought about it the more terrifying a prospect it became. "I highly doubt that Sebastian will let anything happen to you."

Blaine nodded, sniffing in deeply and trying to get rid of the stinging feeling of tears in his eyes. He did feel comforted by those words, but he also could feel something sickening twisting in his stomach at the idea of Sebastian getting hurt because of Blaine. No, he had to be positive; things we were looking relatively calm with Keats, Flint was getting a boyfriend, he was singing lead with Sebastian…This was turning out to be an amazing year so far, and he had to hold onto that.

"Yeah," he agreed, taking in a deep breath and looking at Kurt for a little bit more reassurance that Kurt willing gave to him with the widening of his smile and squeeze of Blaine's shoulder. "I know he wouldn't."

"Finally!" exclaimed Kurt, rolling his eyes to the heavens. "You've _finally_ learnt about positive thinking!"

"Hey!" said Blaine, feeling stung and indignant. He shoved Kurt slightly so that the taller boy stumbled away from him a little bit, smirking teasingly. "I know plenty about positive thinking!" Kurt arched an eyebrow at him, condescendingly, and Blaine crossed his arms, pouting at him. "I do too! That was positive thinking in Warbler hall!"

"Of course, it was, Blaine," said Kurt, putting an arm around his shoulder, and Blaine knew that he was being patronised. God, he hated being shorter than people! It was very hard to be intimidating whilst looking up at someone.

"Was I not being positive about Flint and Dylan? You can't deny that _that_ was positive…"

The two of them wandered through the corridors, arguing about Blaine's ability to be positive, and when they reached the canteen their conversation had somehow moved onto _Grey's Anatomy_ – Blaine had no idea how it had gotten there – and they were playfully arguing about their thoughts on Arizona's return.

"Bowling!" shouted Nick, the moment they took their seats, and Blaine jumped, taken aback by the cry. He looked at Kurt, whose eyebrow had frozen in its arched position, and then around at the rest of the table. The others all rolled their eyes in sync.

"What about bowling?" asked Kurt, breaking off some bread and popping into his mouth as Blaine shook his head and poked his fork into his rice. Nick huffed.

"Bowling this Saturday after Warblers? We haven't done it in _ages_!" Blaine froze at that, rice spilling off his fork and back onto his plate because he'd been planning on hiding the fact that he'd been asked out by Sebastian from his friends for a day or two so he could bask in the warm glow of happiness that it generated before he got teased into an early grave.

"We can't," said Kurt, ignoring Blaine's wide eyed stare because Blaine's mouth wasn't exactly working at the moment. "me and Blaine both have dates." There was a shocked silence after that, and Blaine turned to Kurt with wide eyes, having been previously unaware of that fact, and also secretly glad that people were busy staring at Kurt instead of clocking onto what that meant about him and Sebastian. "What?" demanded Kurt, taking in their wide eyes. "I take it I didn't mention it earlier?" There was a round of shaken heads. Kurt sighed and gave them all a level stare. "I'm happy," he said firmly. "and Keats is a gentleman." Jeff snorted loudly, and Nick opened his mouth to contradict him, but Kurt sent him a fierce glare that said to shut his mouth. Nick obediently snapped his trap shut. Kurt smiled. "Good."

"So…" said David, turning away from Kurt to look at Blaine and blinking a couple of times. "what was that about _you_ having a date?" Blaine went scarlet and shot Kurt a half-hearted glare. Kurt arched an eyebrow, probably demanding to know how Blaine thought he could've kept it a secret, and Blaine rolled his eyes mildly and looked back at the others.

"Um…Sebastian asked me out after Warblers," he mumbled, redirecting his gaze onto his plate. He got the impression that everyone was staring at him, silently demanding more, but he didn't really want to say any more because…he felt embarrassed and awkward enough as it was.

"Sebastian basically said," broke in Kurt, when it was clear that Blaine was not going to speak at all, and Blaine didn't know whether to be relieved or not by his decision to speak for him. "that he remembered promising to do their relationship properly and that it wouldn't be the "_start of something good_" if he didn't do it properly so, therefore, he wanted to go on a date with Blaine."

"Aww!" whispered Jeff, and Blaine jerked his head up, eyes going wide, because that had to be the first time anyone had ever awwed over Sebastian. Everyone else was staring at the blonde with disturbed expressions on their faces. Jeff's eyes were really wide, and he had a freakishly large grin on his face. Blaine glanced over at Nick, who was slowly edging away from Jeff in a manner that was totally hypocritical given all the crazy shit that he did.

"Did you just make a _cute sound_ in regards to _Sebastian_?" demanded David, nervously poking his friend with Thad's knife. The other Warbler councillor, who had been frozen mid eating his chicken, jolted at the loss of his knife and glared at the African-American boy for taking away one piece of his cutlery.

"_What_?" exclaimed Jeff, defensively, batting away the knife which was snatched back by Thad instantly, who resumed eating, and the rest of them continued to stare at him in bemused shock. "That is totally an _adorable_ thing to say!" There was a pause in which the others seemed to consider what Jeff had said, and Blaine simply groaned and hoped that Sebastian didn't choose this moment to come and engage him in conversation like he sometimes did.

"Well, you may have a point," said David, finally. "but just…don't say that around him, okay?"

"Yeah," chipped in Nick. "I kind of like having you as a friend even if _you won't go bowling with me because you have a greedy girlfriend_!" Blaine recoiled slightly as Nick half yelled the latter half of the sentence at Jeff. Jeff whacked him around the back of his head.

"Just for that, I'm giving you more food." Nick groaned loudly, and Blaine smiled gladly at the subject being successfully diverted him from him and Sebastian.

"Can I ask something?" said Kurt, tentatively, and they all looked at him with either welcoming or derisive expressions on their faces, depending on whether or not your name was Nick Duval. Kurt rolled his eyes. "Right, point taken. So, um, what's with the food thing?" There was an awkward pause in which everyone looked back at Nick, who glanced at Thad. Thad rolled his eyes to the ceiling and put down his knife and fork.

"My mother d-d-d-decided that ssshe did not l-l-like Nick and ssso ssshe laced hisss f-f-food with sssomething…We never f-f-found out what. He hallucinated…It t-t-traumatised him." Blaine ran his fork through his own food and glanced at Kurt, who looked somewhere between shocked, apologetic and saddened. Blaine remembered how he'd felt when they'd heard about it. Whatever had happened in the summer of Freshman year had changed both Nick and Thad for good. "It wasss sssumer after Freshman year," added Thad, for Kurt's benefit. Kurt nodded.

"I'm sorry," he offered, and Nick shrugged weakly and pulled out a fake smile.

"That doesn't matter," he said in a fake off hand voice. "What matters it that none of my friends will go bowling with me because they're all too busy with their girl-slash-boyfriends!" Blaine frowned and guessed that David must be going out with Elise again.

"What about Thad?" asked Kurt, indicating to the pale boy that had sat back in his seat and hunched his shoulders after the mention of his mother. Nick rolled his eyes.

"_Someone_ failed Spanish again," he said, and Thad rolled his eyes and huffed. "and now needs to study _extra hard_ as a result!"

"Whatever," grumbled Thad. "Besides, I need to practise." Blaine nodded in understanding and then sat up straighter, smirking at Nick.

"What about Flint?" he asked, and Kurt looked surprised by that and the other three let out chuckles and snorts that suggested they had been counting how long it took for Nick to realise that he had missed Flint out. Nick stared around the table with wide eyes.

"Um…let's pretend I didn't just do that…On a safer topic of conversation, that's _brilliant_! Except Flint sucks at bowling! It's no fun with him! I always win! And I can't go with anyone else! Morrison is going to be with Lottie. Chris wants to paint, Drew has some kind of practise, and I learnt the hard way to never bowl with Trinity, Juri and Fred." There was a moment of incredulous silence in which they all demanded to know why he had _tried_ to bowl with that lot in the first place.

"Well, your idiocy aside, I'm sure that you and Flint will have a wonderful time. I'm sure you can find _something_ to talk about besides his inability to bowl," said Jeff, winking, and Blaine felt himself freeze at that and desperately wanted to shake his head to say that he should stop hinting at Flint's feelings. However, he didn't think he could do it subtlety so he didn't risk it.

"On the subject of our almost-soloist, where is he and what the hell was he singing about? It was _awesome_, but I didn't get it." There was an awkward pause after that, and Blaine saw that Kurt was looking at him for guidance. Blaine gave him a look that said not to broach the subject without Flint. Kurt gave him a tiny smile, and the others didn't need to be told that, though they were looking at Blaine in a questioning manner that asked what was going on. He told them to wait for Flint. They all accepted it instantly.

"Well, you won't die from anticipation because there he is." Blaine twisted around to see Flint walking into the canteen with Dylan by his side. Their arms were brushing, and the happy grin on his face told Blaine all that he needed to know. They walked side by side and talked with tiny smiles on their faces as they collected their meals. They stood before each other, talking, before they eventually split; Dylan walking over to Alex, Warwick and Trinity, and Flint coming to them.

"Hey guys," he said, dropping down with a self-satisfied smile on his face that made Blaine and Kurt grin at each other in pleasure. Jeff and David exchanged sideways looks that questioned what was going on. "you'll be pleased to know that on my way back I saw Cam hanging out with Braden, Pedro and Francis in one of the music rooms. They seemed to be getting on like a house on fire so it looks like he's settled in really well." Blaine nodded along with all the others, glad of that fact, but also narrowed his eyes because he got the impression that Flint was purposefully diverting the conversation

"Bowling!" exclaimed Nick once more, before anyone else could input into the conversation, and Blaine glared at him for him leaping into the silence when he was sure Kurt had just been about to ask the all-important question. Kurt snapped his mouth shut, narrowing his eyes darkly at Nick. Flint blinked in confusion. "Bowling on Saturday, you up for it?" Flint went scarlet.

"Um, sorry," he said, wincing. "I said I'd go with Dylan." Blaine sucked in a huge breath of air, grinning even wider. Kurt pressed his hands together in glee. Thad tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. David and Jeff exchanged sideways looked again. Nick remained oblivious.

"That's fine, he can come too." Flint went even redder, and David clenched his fists, punching them into the air, and Jeff clamped his hands over his mouth. Thad dropped his knife and fork, mouth hanging open. Nick finally got that there was something going on that he had missed. "What? What is it?" he demanded, looking around at them all in annoyed confusion. Flint took in a huge breath, closing his eyes.

"We can't do that because me and Dylan are going _together_ – on a _date_." The shocked silence that should have followed was immediately broken by the celebratory noises of the other boys at the table. Blaine threw his arms around Flint as Kurt squealed in delight. David punched the air in celebration with his cheers. Jeff threw himself across the table with a delighted cheer to messily plant a kiss on Flint's forehead – for whatever reason made him think that was the best way to congratulate Flint – and Thad was clapping as he looked at Flint with a surprised smile.

"This is fantastic!" exclaimed David, reaching across to slap his friend heartily on the shoulder. Most people, who had looked over at the initial outbreak of noise, were now turning back to their meals, and Blaine was amused to see Hammonds forcing Mrs Daniels' to retake her seat so that she didn't punish them for disturbing the quiet. "Seriously, man, this is really great." Blaine watched Flint looked down at his plate with an embarrassed expression that Blaine knew so well, but it really _was_ a greatly fantastic thing because Flint had been sad for so long because of his sexuality, Nick and his family so for him to find someone that made him so happy was nothing short of _perfect_.

"Thanks," said Flint, looking around at them with a small grin. "I- I can't believe it to be honest," he muttered, rubbing his hands together in a nervous fashion.

"Nick," said Jeff, elbowing his friend, who was still sitting there with a shocked expression on his face; slack jaw and wide eyes. "you going to say something?" Everyone looked at him with judging expressions, except Flint who just looked terrified. Nick swallowed and looked around the room once before looking straight into Flint's eyes.

"Sorry, kind of a shock. I didn't- I had no idea you liked him…_at all_. Woah, um…" Nick scratched his head looking puzzled. "Did you ask him out because I would have thought they'd be taking you out in an ambulance in this situation?" Blaine rolled his eyes at the way Nick had phrased his question, but couldn't deny that it was a good question. All eyes turned to Flint. Flint sighed.

"Alright, I'll tell you the whole story…"

* * *

Flint hurried down the corridor, body telling him that he had to move quickly or else he would lose his nerve completely and back out, and if that happened then he wouldn't put it past Blaine and Kurt to do something about it _for_ him. He could not imagine the humiliation that he would suffer at that. It would be almost as bad as Nick doing something about it…oh that thought was painful.

Now, where was he actually going? He came to a stop in the corridor and slapped a hand over his face because why was he just walking around aimlessly? He squashed his nose into his face with his palm and tried to think logically. He didn't really know where to find Dylan because the only clubs he was in – fight club and one of the football teams – couldn't be on as Blaine ran the former and was in another one of the latter.

"Keep that up much longer, and it's going to be permanent." Flint dropped the hand from his face like he'd been shocked. He looked up at Dylan, who was standing before him with an amused expression on his face, and gave him a weak smile.

"See, not that hard to find him," said Alex, rolling his eyes. Flint blinked, taking in the presence of Dylan's best friend, and gave him a small smile. Alex rolled his eyes once more. "I'll just have my poem back," he said, snatching the piece of paper from Dylan's slack fingers. "and I'll see you at dinner. Nice to see you, Flint, I'm sure I'll be seeing more of you." With a final roll of the eyes, Alex departed.

"Sorry about him," apologised Dylan, instantly, the moment Alex had vanished from sigh. Flint shook his head because his brain had just clocked what Alex had first said.

"You were- you were _looking_ for _me_?" he asked. Dylan blinked and then did a double take, glaring after Alex's departing form.

"Um, well, about that- you see I- well…" Dylan trailed off, running one hand through his hair, and then grabbed Flint's hand. Flint fell his heart skip a beat and nausea and nerves begin to choke him as Dylan dragged him into an empty classroom, flicking on the light. Flint was quickly forgetting out to breathe. He could feel his chest closing up as he began to ask himself what on _earth_ he was doing. Why would he think for _one second_ that anyone would want to go out with him?

He gulped in a huge breath, hearing it tear in his throat, and couldn't force it to go all the way into his lungs. He raised his free hand to his face as Dylan began to talk to him, but he wasn't able to properly hear the words that were being said to him. He could feel Dylan's firm grip position him so that he was sat down in a chair and bent forward. Then the hands set about undoing his tie and opening the neck of his shirt.

"You're being very forward, don't you think?" he choked out, and he heard Dylan laugh which he felt proud about because it wasn't often he made people laugh.

"You've been around Nick too much," joked Dylan, and Flint felt it become a little bit easier to breathe at that. He tilted his head to the side, not able to disagree with that.

"Yeah," he whispered, and suddenly aware of the fact that Dylan's face was really close to his. Dylan had seriously grey eyes except right around his pupils it was lighter. It had spears of almost white that lanced out into the rest of the iris. It was almost like a tiny snowflake sat around the pupil. It was freaky how captivating that was.

"So, Flint," Flint blinked and jerked back slightly. "um, there's something I've been meaning to say to you for a while, and if I don't do it soon then I think Alex and Warwick will probably do their nut – not to mention Trinity – and do something stupid so…" Flint chuckled in understanding.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," he agreed, even though he technically didn't know that they were talking about the same thing and if they weren't then it would be very awkward, but he reckoned that they were so it was okay. "I think Blaine and Kurt are devising plans as we speak." Dylan chuckled.

"Two true romantics, you're in trouble!" Flint chuckled heartily at that, and he wondered whether it would be a good idea to ask him himself. Dylan sighed and reached out to cradle both of Flint's hands in his.

"Yeah," he muttered. Dylan took a deep breath and shuffled a little bit closer.

"So, Flint Wilson, I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to give me an honest answer but not until you've thought it over, and please don't freak out and have a panic/asthma attack because I know you're stupid enough to not carry an inhaler." Flint let out a little chuckle, but now he was almost certain that he was about to be asked out and so remained in silence. "Okay, so, I know we've kind of been friends for a long time, and we got a bit closer after what Keats did, but…ever since New Year's day when we sat and just _talked_…well, ever since then I can't get you out of my head." Flint went scarlet instantly and tried not to smile too much. "You can smile," assured Dylan, and he grinned just a little bit more. "Anyway," continued Dylan. "I've been thinking about you every day since then, and it's kind of distracting to be honest, and it drives my friends crazy, and I need to do something about it…This is crazy, but do you want go out with me on Saturday? I mean, I know you have Warblers, but after that? We could go bowling and get something to eat? Just you and me…on a _date_?"

Flint took his hands from Dylan to put them over his face as he tried to breathe steadily. He heard Dylan shuffle back slightly, and he wanted to reach out and grab him so that he didn't get the wrong idea, but he couldn't. Not at that precise moment when his eyes were stinging because _this was it_. It was what he wanted, and what he feared. If he said yes to Dylan, then he said no – in his mind – to the possibility of ever having Nick. Dylan; who he wanted and wanted him in return, or Nick; who he wanted and was unwanted in return.

It was a harder decision than he would have thought, not to mention all the self-doubt that was telling him that he would never be wanted. Except, they were simply voices in his head, but this…this was _real_. Dylan was right in front of him, hot breath warming the backs of his hands, and had just asked him out.

He had never felt like this before. He was such a mess of emotions. He was happy and scared and freaked out and overjoyed and worried and disbelieving and amazed and confused…but mostly it was overjoyed…overjoyed and _relieved_.

He didn't have any words, though. He had no words to say all of that. He couldn't describe in plain English how it felt to be such an utterly _hopeful_ mess. No words in _plain_ English…

"_It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life For me And I'm feeling good…_" he sang, softly, reaching forward to pull Dylan closer into his presence. His brain, for the first time, seemed to not be working at all. It was kind of weird to be completely unable to think because there were no thoughts there instead of having his brain completely clogged with too many thoughts that stopped him from thinking. He didn't even know what he was meant to be doing, but the next thing he knew he had pulled Dylan in and kissed him right on the lips.

He was insane.

And being insane felt…

…perfectly wonderful.

* * *

There was a stunned silence at the table. Blaine stared at Flint with his mouth hanging open because he had _not_ been expecting that. He hadn't been at all surprised by the rest of the tale, but the ending…Wow, he had not expected to hear that Flint had been kissed, let alone that he'd _initiated_ it. He looked round at all the other faces and saw that they all looked similarly dumbstruck.

"You kissed him?" asked Jeff in a whisper, brow scrunching together in obvious confusion, trying to process such an alien idea. Flint nodded furiously, staring down at his food. David gaped wordlessly. Nick looked like someone had slapped him _again_. Kurt cleared his throat and patted Flint's shoulder.

"At least _one_ of us made the move for our first kiss," Flint went even redder at that, and Blaine noticed the way he shot Nick a half glance before grinning nervously around at the others. Blaine gave him an encouraging smile, along with the others, that said it was perfectly fine to discount Nick's kiss from the list.

"Hey, David," said Jeff, elbowing his friend. "you know what we've got to do?" David blinked dumbly for a second before his face split out into a wicked smile.

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "My favourite part!" Blaine narrowed his eyes slightly as the two boys jumped from the bench. Jeff made to grab Nick, but then seemed to think better of it and nabbed Thad by the shoulder instead. The Franklin Warbler councillor rolled his eyes and hopped from the bench. Kurt let out a small giggle as Blaine clocked what was going on and Flint slammed his head down onto the table. Nick didn't even jolt; he just continued to sit there with wide eyes.

Blaine watched, amused smile settled on his face, as the three of their friends came to a stop by Dylan, tapped him on the shoulder and made the taller boy rise to his feet. They then proceeded to talk to the boy looming over them – well, Jeff and David did, Thad just seemed to be standing there – whilst punching their fists into their palms. Dylan looked mildly amused by the whole situation and nodded a couple of times before getting high-fives from Jeff and David, and the three Warblers traipsed back to them.

"What did you say?" asked Flint in a voice of trepidation, cautiously raising his head from the table. He was shot three charming smiles to which he glared intensely.

"Oh nothing, darling," said David, winking, and Flint kicked him under the table. The rest laughed, except Nick because he was still busy gaping, and David rolled his eyes. "It's fine! It was just the normal stuff; bodily harm, disembowelment, torture, death…you know how it goes." Blaine chuckled at Flint's expense because the poor Harriot boy was sitting there with wide eyes and a petrified expression.

"Nick," said Jeff, elbowing his friend several times. "Nick, buddy, you've got to say something else, or I'm going to have to start freaking out over you, okay?" Nick nodded, shutting his mouth and fixing wide eyes onto Flint.

"Yeah, I just…I can't believe you didn't tell. I mean, we _are_ roommates." Blaine scrunched his face up and looked at Flint, who was studiously avoiding Nick's puppy dog eyes.

"I know," muttered Flint, and Blaine hated the way he sounded so ashamed of what he'd done even though it had been completely natural and understanding. He shot Nick a glare for increasing Flint's guilt levels, but Nick didn't see as he was still staring at Flint. "I just- I needed a _sympathetic_ ear, okay? And, I'm sorry but you're not that…I needed someone who would talk feelings and not make fun of me, and I needed to believe that I was allowed to be frightened." Flint shook his head, ducking it down so that Nick wasn't in his line of sight. Nick took in a deep breath, frown on his face as he thought; the eyes darting around the room giving away how quickly he was trying to get to the solution.

Then a pale handed reached across the table and covered the trembling on. The fingers curled around the palm, steadying it and holding it firmly. Flint jerked, looking down at his and Nick's hands before hesitantly meeting the boy's eyes, blinking at the openness of them and the soft smile that rested across his lips.

"I know that I'm not any of those things any of the time, but the bottom line is we're a family, and I love you, and so if you need me to be _anything_ that I'm not…all you have to do is ask, and I'm not perfect, but I'll do my very best to be perfect for you."

Blaine stared at Nick with a completely slack expression because he was saying that _now_? Blaine had expected pouting and teasing and whining about the loss of his roommate, but he had not been expecting _that_! Oh god, did Nick have _any_ idea how that had sounded? Oh Christ!

Blaine looked over at Jeff, who bore a similar expression of disbelief. He arched his eyebrows when he caught Blaine's expression and rolled his eyes, clearly demanding to know why Nick hadn't bothered saying that _years_ ago. Blaine shook his head and shrugged, and they both turned to Thad, who was staring at his god-brother like he'd sprouted antlers, and Thad simply shook his head when he noticed their expressions and rolled his eyes to the ceiling, probably communicating a sense of exasperation about Nick's timing.

"Okay," said Flint in a thick voice. "I'll remember that." Nick smiled at him and retracted his hand. Then he looked around at the rest of the table.

"I cannot believe that you are all dating people. This is going to _suck_." There was an incredulous pause in which they all stared at him and arched their eyebrows. "What?"

"You're really not having a good day, are you?" said Kurt, eventually. Nick blinked at him, head tilting to the side. Kurt rolled his eyes. "It may have escaped your notice, but Thad isn't dating anyone." Nick's mouth formed a round "_o_", and he stared at them for a second before slamming his head into the table, causing the rest of them to break down into laughter, and Blaine, glancing at Flint, got a wide grin and a nod that said he was more than fine.

* * *

"Thad, please stop making that face. It's _seriously_ off-putting!" The harmonies of the Warblers, ever so slightly out of key and rather jagged around the edges, faded out chaotically. Kurt sighed, lowering his sheet music, and shot the Warbler councillor a glare. Thad, however, seemed oblivious to Wes' protestation against his facial expression and all the stares as he continued to screw up his face and stare at the score before him.

"Thad!" exclaimed David, rolling his eyes. "Thad, we know there are problems, but it's _Saturday_! We have to get through this quickly! We're performing on _Tuesday_ – probably – and we haven't done a full run through."

"We would be further through if _someone_ had arranged the music on time." David turned a glare on Nick, who was lounging against a piece of furniture and smirking at his stressed out looking friend.

"Yeah, well, it's not my fault that Wes took ages to decide what song to do, and then the printer went spastic so I had to write everything by hand and then I couldn't even scan it onto the computer because the printer was still – _fucking_ – broken!"

"Alright," said Wes, stepping forward and putting a hand on David's chest, pushing him back slightly so that he could calm down and take a couple of breaths. "let's just calm down. Thad, what's the problem?" Thad held up a finger in response and then turned to Kurt and Tyler.

"Can I have the note you were just on?" he asked in a very calm voice given how stressed out most of the other Warblers were. Kurt glanced at Tyler, who simply shrugged and rolled his eyes slightly. The two of them pitched the note in their heads before singing it. Thad's face immediately distorted. He pointed at Tyler with one hand and gave him the thumbs down and at Kurt with the other and gave him the thumbs up. Kurt smile in delight at that as Tyler adjusted his note though it was still out against Kurt's.

"No, Kurt," said Thad, shaking his head and gesturing to the ceiling with his thumb. "you're flat go up." He gestured up again. "This is the note that you want," he sang, and Kurt, glancing at Tyler and wondering why Thad couldn't make his hand signals more obvious, adjusted his note.

"Good!" enthused Wes when Thad gave them a nod that said they were okay. "Now that that problem is- _What_?" he demanded, looking at Thad's shaking head. Thad put up his index finger again to ask for a moment, and Kurt rolled his eyes once more and checked the time because he was so sure that he was going to be late for his first date.

"I thought that wasn't the only problem," muttered Thad, probably more to himself then Wes. "This is wrong!" exclaimed Thad, dropping a part of the score with a shocked expression on his face. Kurt arched an eyebrow as David looked over at him in an offended manner.

"No, it's not!" he said, indignantly. Wes rolled his eyes as most of the Warblers huffed and glared at one of their leaders.

"David, don't argue with Mr Perfect Pitch, alright? What's wrong with the music, Thad?" Kurt arched an eyebrow in surprise as he looked over at Thad. Thad was shaking his head and looked at Wes with a rather apologetic expression given that he hadn't done anything wrong.

"There's an entire part that's wrong, but I think that it's only out by a semitone…I think you just transcribed it wrong, David." With that he reached forward and nabbed said part from the hands of Jeff, Dom and Francis. Wes rolled his eyes once more.

"How long will it take you to sort it out?" Thad shrugged and moved over to the piano, lifting up the lid and beginning to play chords. Wes rolled his eyes, this time accompanying it with a heavy sigh. "Alright everyone, take five…or however long it takes to fix this." He gave David a glare to which David simply held up his hands.

"Yeah, I told you not to make me arrange it!"

"Yes, but if you don't learn now whilst I'm here to clean up your mess, then when are you going to do it?"

"_You_ clean up _my_ mess! Thad's the one who's fixing the piece…" Kurt rolled his eyes and tuned out the argument, making his way over to Blaine as Sebastian got to his feet, stretched and walked off. Flint also sidled over, and the three boys, all of whom were embarking on their first dates in a time that was ticking ever closer, stood awkwardly before each other for a couple of moments.

"So…" said Blaine, exhaling and sinking into the sofa that he'd been sat on for the entire rehearsal as he and Sebastian perfected their solo part. "we on for meeting up after our dates?" Kurt took a moment to consider the proposition, but already knew that he wanted to because it was the closest he would come to being able to gush about it to girls in the way he would have if he'd been back in Lima – he had too little time and too many things to do to make a trip back to Lima.

"Yeah, I'm in," he said, and then turned to look at Flint. Flint chewed on the inside of his lip for a moment before nodding.

"Me too, just as long as it's not done in my room." Kurt snorted at that because there would be no way in any realm of the universe that he would _ever_ discuss his first date in a room inhabited by Nick Duval because, no matter how sweet his promise to Flint had been, that boy loved to tease and joke and be generally immature and sex-obsessed.

"Yeah, I don't think that was ever a possibility," said Blaine, rolling his eyes mildly. "I suggest my room because if I hear _one more_ comment about corrupting Juri's innocence…" he trailed off ominously, and Kurt had to agree with that statement because he got at least two comments per day to that effect from Chris and he was _so_ close to pulling out his hair over it.

"What about Thad?" asked Flint, gnawing on his nails. Kurt reached over and slapped his hand, giving him a pointed look that told him to desist with the disgusting habit. Flint smiled nervously at him, looking like a naughty child. Blaine rolled his eyes once more.

"Don't worry," he said, reassuringly. "the moment he works out what we're doing he'll probably high-tail from the room and crash on the sofa." Kurt arched an eyebrow as Flint let out a little snicker. Blaine shook his head. "Long story, but he basically walked in on me, Flint and some other guys squealing over…" Blaine trailed off, looking over at Flint with a puzzled expression. "What were we actually doing?" he asked, and Kurt snorted at the way Flint's brow furrowed.

"Err…I don't remember, but he stood there for a couple of minutes listening to us squeal before running out of the room." Kurt chuckled and glanced over at the boy that was furiously amending the parts with a pen. He could just about picture him doing that.

"We're going to be late," said Blaine, rubbing his forehead in a nervous manner. "We're going to be late!" he repeated sounding really stressed out. Kurt looked at Flint and saw his expression become more panicked. He rolled his eyes at Blaine for settling Flint off.

"Blaine," he said in a forcefully calm tone of voice. "I doubt that it's going to be a problem for you because, in case you hadn't noticed, your boyfriend will _also_ be late." Blaine gave him an apologetic smile and ran a hand down his face, looking over at Flint. Kurt could tell that there was something passing between them that he didn't quite catch. So, instead, he sat down on the sofa and indicated that Flint should take a seat on his other side. "Okay, I'm only going to say this once; _everything will be __**fine**_. I know you're both scared – I'm worried too – but let's face it; me and you, Flint, we got asked out, and you, Blaine, seemed to have reformed Sebastian…If anything goes wrong, it won't be because of us. Now, we all know there are homophobic jerks in the world, but last time I checked you – Blaine – ran a fight club that _your_ boyfriend, Flint, who is also a giant, attends. That just leaves me with my hopelessly uncoordinated boyfriend who by far favours brain over brawn, but you don't see me freaking out."

There was a silence in which he looked between the two nervous boys with a fierce glint in his eye, telling them both that they were both to stop losing their heads over the situation in which they were both safe. Flint exhaled and flopped against Kurt, resting his head against his shoulder, and Kurt smiled at him affectionately. Blaine gave him a self-deprecating smile and then sat up, childish grin back, and dropped his head down against his other shoulder. He looked between the two of them before rolling his eyes and leaning back against the sofa cushions.

"Did Sebastian disclose what you're doing?" asked Flint eventually, and Blaine shook his head, rolling his eyes slightly.

"No, he said it was a "_surprise_"…I have to admit I'm a little nervous as to what he's cooked up, but he says it's all safe, and I just need to dress casual so…" he shrugged a little bit. "I'm not really sure what to expect. "What about you, Kurt?" Kurt shook his head.

"Me and Keats are keeping our plans open for the rest of the day. We're having dinner at a restaurant he booked, but I think we're just going to wander around town or something…are you just bowling, Flint?" Flint shook his head.

"No, we've extended our plans so we'll be out for dinner too."

"Text when we get back to Dalton?" suggested Blaine, and Kurt nodded as Flint muttered "_yeah_" in a soft voice. "Awesome," murmured Blaine, and Kurt watched a tiny smile grow across his face, betraying how over excited he was about the whole prospect. Before they could start another conversation, though, Thad stepped away from the piano and held up the parts to indicate that it was done.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Wes as Kurt and Flint got off the sofa and wandered back over to the rest of the Warblers. "Now, I suggest we try and run it twice through – thirds, sorry about your part do the best you can, but I doubt it's changed much – without the soloists, and once with, and then we can call it a wrap." Kurt grinned at Trent as he made his way back to his spot.

Kurt had to admit that he was nothing short of delighted as to how Trent was settling in at Dalton. Kurt kept an eye on him, tending to catch him in the cafeteria or after Warblers, but he and Flint, who kept an eye on him in the house and such, had quickly realised that he had made enough friends for them not to be constantly hovering over his shoulder. He nearly always had a smile on his face and seemed to constantly be in the middle of some conversation with someone. He had told Kurt that he was really happy at Dalton and that he'd been surprised to find that the school had been everything he hoped, and the only thing that worried him were his friends from McKinley, who he wasn't exactly talking to but who sometimes made fun of him for being in a private school via text and all. Kurt had been quick to make sure that he knew that, if the situation became too much, he could seek help from Kurt or any of his friends, and that, if things were to escalate any further, the Dalton boys would be more than happy to stand up and defend him. Other than that, Trent was completely fine – so much better than Kurt had been – and whenever he did check up on him, Kurt found that their conversations quickly turned onto something else and that it really was more like chatting with a friend then orientating a new student.

"Alright!" cried Wes, drawing Kurt out of his train of thought and bringing his focus back to the Warblers. "Let's take it from the top, two bars for nothing…" Wes beat the tempo in the air, and the Warblers came in bang on time with their upbeat harmonies. Kurt had to admit that the piece sounded much better since Thad had tweaked the harmonies once or twice, though there were the natural slip ups from those sight-reading, and it seemed to take no time at all to run through the piece three times after such an agonisingly slow rehearsal.

The moment the final note died, and Wes had dismissed them accompanied by death threats in case any of them were stupid enough to run late tomorrow, Kurt sped from Warbler hall, Flint and Blaine on his tail. The three of them moved through the large corridors as fast as was dignified, and allowed, and the moment they were out into the cold grounds they broke into a proper run, Flint assuring them that he was fine to sprint the distance over to Harriot. Their goodbyes were lost on the wind as they dashed into Franklin and into their rooms, shouting good luck to each other as they slammed their doors shut.

Kurt took a couple of deep breaths as he looked around his and Juri's room. They hadn't been back long enough for it to have become a tip, but there was still a considerable amount of junk on the floor – mainly paper, he noted – that Juri would, no doubt, slip and slide over. Still, his concerns for his roommate would have to wait for another time when he wasn't about to embark on his first date because, right now, he needed to get changed and have his look perfected. He had planned his outfit painstakingly in advance over the phone with Mercedes, but that didn't stop him from feeling nervous as he changed from his uniform and into his outfit. He had no idea what Keats would think/say about how he'd dressed, and he just hoped, as he attached the finishing touch of his hippo pin, that Keats would have the sense to compliment him profusely.

Checking the time, he found that it was bang on two thirty, meaning that Keats ought to be arriving at Franklin any moment. He sucked in a huge breath, trying to push down all the feelings of nerves that were mounting up inside of him because everything he'd said in Warblers made perfect sense and was completely true, and made his way over to the door, hooking his satchel onto his shoulder just before he left the room, double checking to make sure that he had everything, and then exited from his bedroom.

Some of the other boys, who obviously knew where he was going, wolf-whistled as he came down the stairs, and he hid his laughter as best as he could whilst trying to glare down at all of them, who had assumed innocent expressions the moment he looked their way. He saw that Keats was standing in the entrance with Thad, and Kurt rolled his eyes as he made his way over to the awkward looking pair.

"Perfect timing," said Keats, giving him a small smile out of the corner of his mouth. Kurt accepted the compliment with a gracious smile and turned to Thad, who was trying his best to seem unruffled by the situation. Kurt arched his eyebrow at Thad's tiny smile, and Keats rolled his eyes. "Thad, here, was just threatening my life." Kurt snorted a little bit at that because Thad wasn't the most threatening of people.

"I see," Thad shrugged, casually, moving away from them.

"Nick was busy with Dylan," he commented and walked away. Kurt turned back to Keats with his eyebrow still arched, amused smile on his face. Keats shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"It would have been more threatening if he hadn't been stuttering," he said and offered his arm to Kurt. Kurt, taking in his boyfriend's black slacks, pale blue shirt, dark blue V-neck jumper and navy blazer and deciding that he looked very good, hooked his arm through Keats', and the two of them set out across the rather chilly grounds of Dalton. "So, it's quite the day for first dates, isn't it?" Kurt chuckled and nodded.

"Yes, it's a little bit strange, I have to admit, but it's also very exciting." Keats pulled an unconvinced face.

"I have got to admit that Dylan and Flint was _not_ a couple I saw coming." Kurt nodded in agreement and looked at him in interest.

"Do you know Dylan well?" Keats shrugged, pulling another face.

"I did, I suppose. I knew him through Alex – you know, Alex Kier; I sit next to him in history, and he and Dylan are best friends – and we got along alright." Kurt blinked for one second, taking in the deliberate use of the past tense, and then understood that they had been close before the fighting had started and torn so many different friendships apart.

"I see," he muttered, softly, not particularly enjoying the reminder of what had happened but accepting that he had sort of brought that on himself; everything seemed to be linked back to the events in Freshman year one way or another. Keats nodded his brown head solemnly.

"I'm driving," he said, abruptly, when they reached the car park and pulled out his keys to emphasise the point. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Well, obviously you're driving; I haven't got a clue where we're going!" Keats stared at him for a second before rolling his eyes and heaving a huge sigh.

"The one time I attempt small talk," he grumbled, unlocking his car. Kurt felt his eyebrows arch as he stared down at the sleek, silver, luxury sedan Lexus that his boyfriend was preparing to get into.

"You drive this?" he demanded, looking over at him with a stunned expression on his face because he knew Keats was rich and everything, but he also didn't get on with his father at all. Keats rolled his eyes.

"Daddy wouldn't want his perfect little boy driving anything common now, would he?" he said in a mocking tone of voice, and Kurt got it instantly. Keats' entire image; the neat haircut, the smart casual dress code and the luxury car, was carefully crafted so that no one, for one second, would be believe him to be anything other than the rich son of a senator. No one would ever know that all of that was simply a show to hide the fact that he was gay because he conformed so perfectly to the stereotyped views of what he _should_ look like.

"I'm sorry," he said because his dad – whilst never getting what Kurt wore – had never told Kurt how he should dress and present himself, let alone create a fake image for him so that he could hide a very important part of his identity from the world. Keats shrugged.

"Nothing I can do about, and the car's pretty good."

_But not as good as a father's love_, thought Kurt, sadly, as he got into the passenger seat and took in the leather interior. Keats gave him a smile that told him to cheer up and stop looking depressed about his home life, and Kurt gave him one in return that said he would try. Keats nodded and turned on the engine, reversing the car and driving out of the Dalton grounds.

"It's really not that bad," said Keats, looking over at him with a grin. "seriously, you're making this situation out to be a lot worse than it is. My dad hates me, but I love this car." He patted the dashboard in an affectionate manner, and Kurt, raising an eyebrow and looking incredulous, had to smile in amusement back at him.

"Okay, Keats, it's just- it's just sad, that's all." Keats rolled his eyes.

"There are a lot of sadder things in the world than this, Kurt." Kurt nodded in mild agreement and looked back at his boyfriend, who did seem completely comfortable with the situation.

"Fine, I'll stop." Keats gave him a grin and reached forward to the CD player.

"I'm picking the music," he said, giving Kurt an intense look. "because, no offence, I don't think any of the stuff you listen to would sound quite right for speeding down roads." Kurt arched an eyebrow at him, telling him that he was offended.

"So, tell me, what _is_ right for speeding down roads? And what do you mean by _speeeeeeeding_!" Kurt felt himself being thrown back into his seat as Keats put his foot down on the accelerator, sending them shooting down the road well above the speed limit. "Slow down this instant!" he scolded, and Keats, laughing at his expense, obligingly took his foot off the accelerator. Kurt glared at his boyfriend. "You know this isn't a toy car, you can't just drive it as fast as you want down the hallway."

"Funnily enough, Kurt, I'd worked out this wasn't a toy." Kurt rolled his eyes as Keats reached forward to turn on the music. "Now, as I was saying, music." Kurt watched his smirking boyfriend, having a feeling he knew what might be coming.

_Thunderbirds are go_

"How did I know?" he asked, looking over at his boyfriend with a fond grin. Keats simply shrugged, putting both hands back on the wheel.

"I don't know, Kurt, have you ever considered the possibility that you're a psychic?" Kurt snorted, shaking his head and rolling his eyes, and opened his mouth to say something. "Don't insult the song," preempted Keats, waggling a finger in Kurt's direction. "The film may have been a piece of crap, but the song is awesome!"

"I wasn't going to insult your song," he said in an offended tone of voice. "I was just going to ask if you've ever actually seen _The_ _Thunderbirds_." Keats made to reply but then turned up the music as the song started properly.

_Spring breaks come around and there's more heroes to be found_

_There's something major going down on Tracy island, island_

_Rockets underground keeping our planet safe a__nd sound _

_If someone evil's coming round they should be frightened, frightened_

Kurt didn't know whether to laugh hysterically at his boyfriend's terrible singing or screw his face up and stick his fingers in his ears. The laughter won out, and he ended up bending forward in his seat as he laughed at the sight of Keats bouncing around his seat, though Kurt had to admit, as Keats sang along very badly but very enthusiastically, that the song had a seriously catchy beat.

_Cause now the boys are back in town,_

_No strings to hold them down, down_

Keats waited right up until the end of the chorus – when they were echoing the word "_down_" – before putting his foot back on the accelerator, sending them swooping forward in the car as the chorus started;

_Don't be mad please, stop the hating,_

_Just be glad that they'll be waiting,_

_Friends we have aren't ever changing,_

_No, now the lid's about to blow, when the Thunderbirds are go…_

And Kurt, only half reluctantly, joined in because it was just like last time; there was so much exuberance in what Keats did that it was impossible to be swept along with all his energy and enthusiasm. Keats made the car so lively and fun by singing that Kurt just felt like he was being a right old party pooper if he didn't join in too.

He had to admit that it was a very good song for driving along a road very fast – Kurt had decided that he was just going to trust his boyfriend's common sense and brains and believe that they were still below the speed limit – because of the fast, punchy beat. The scenery of Westerville swept by the window in a blur, and there wasn't a moment where Kurt was fighting for breath because he was trying to sing whilst semi-fighting his laughter at his boyfriend. Still, it filled him up on the inside with something that was ridiculously warm and fuzzy because moments like this where Keats was singing badly, grinning, head banging and occasionally taking a hand off the wheel to wave an arm around in the air were proof – _more_ proof – that Keats was more than some villain. He wondered how many people actually knew that this side of Keats; the one that was just a little crazy and so ready to let loose, even existed. He knew that his four best friends would, but outside them he wasn't sure at all. Keats seemed to keep so much of himself locked up behind a hard exterior, and it was so sad that he didn't let himself out more often because Kurt reckoned that if the others saw how much of real person he was, they might be more inclined to forgive him.

_Thunderbirds are go_

_Don't be mad please, stop the hating,_

Still, it didn't really matter right as Kurt leant towards his boyfriend, still singing, Keats' voice dropping away with the backing track, because they were out on a date, and nobody's opinion could change that.

_Just be glad that they'll be waiting, _

Keats' voice came back in over the top, so off key, but Kurt was just going to overlook that because he seemed to have developed a resistance to Keats' terrible voice that meant it didn't kill his ears to listen to…

_Friends we have aren't ever changing, _

…unless he was screaming in the manner that he was at the precise second because the backing track had just come smashing back in.

_No, now the lid's about to blow, when the Thunderbirds are go_

_Thunderbirds are, Thunderbirds are go…_

He joined in the shouting too because he needed to drown at the bad singing, and the two of them were almost instantly drawn into a battle to see who could belt out the lyrics the loudest, which Kurt obviously won because he was far more superior to Keats in the vocal department. It was still fun, though, to drive along in the comfortable warmth of his boyfriend's luxury car, hopelessly thrashing said boyfriend at singing, and just like the drive to his house when they'd gone to tell his dad about the two of them, time seemed to melt away into nothing so that, before Kurt knew it, they were pulling to a stop in the underground car park of a shopping centre somewhere in Westerville. He blinked, taken aback, as Keats shut off the car and leapt from his seat, hurrying round and opening the door before Kurt had unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Why thank you," he said, tipping his head politely at his boyfriend's gentlemanly gesture. Keats gave him a politer smile, accepting his thanks with a gracious nod.

"You're very welcome," he said, and Kurt hooked his bag onto his shoulder and stepped from the car. Keats shut the door behind him and then gave him a fixed look. "So, do you want to hold hands around here, or do you want to play it safe? I spoke to some people that have been out on dates here, and they said that it's a bit touch and go depending on the people around, but the restaurant I booked is okay." Kurt bit down on the inside of his lip and considered it carefully. It was his first date, and he wanted to spend it like any other couple would, but he also didn't want it to be ruined by some brainless Neanderthals.

"Let's try not to worry," he said, instead, hooking his arm through Keats' in a gesture that wasn't as provocative as holding hands but not also exactly straight. Keats shot him a fond smile, and they began to walk towards the stairs into the main mall.

The mall was underwhelming in the way that it was relatively like the one in Lima with similar shops, though naturally different ones and a little more high-end he reckoned which wasn't too surprising, and it seemed to have a similar clientele with families and their noisy children, couples both their own age right up to elderly folks and huge gaggles of shoppers – predominantly female – that also generated an awful lot of noise.

"I figured we could grab a cup of coffee in a café or something…on me, of course." said Keats, turning to him as they meandered aimlessly through the crowds. Kurt nodded instantly because he could never argue with the offer of a cup of coffee, especially not when it was free.

"That sounds perfect; lead on!" Keats grinned and nodded, beginning to walk over towards a café that had wicker chairs sitting around circular shiny tables.

"I figured that we could just talk," continued Keats. "because we know some facts about each other, but not as much as we could." Kurt nodded, fully agreeing with him because there were so many things about Keats that he didn't know.

"That sounds like an excellent idea," he said, and Keats nodded in a smug manner that said he had known that and that was why he had come up with it. Kurt rolled his eyes in a manner that said he despaired at Keats' pig-headedness.

"Now, now, Kurt, let's not give each other those condescending looks." Kurt playfully scowled back at his boyfriend as they wandered inside the comforting warmth of the café that was filled with perfect aroma of coffee. The two of them wandered up to back of the queue, falling into comfortable silence as they waited to make it to the counter and place their orders and collect their warm cups of liquid before finding some seats.

Kurt sat down in his seat, raising the foam cup to his lips and wincing as the scalding liquid burnt his lip. Keats gave him a look that told him he was an idiot for drinking it when it was so hot and made a point of blowing on the top of the drink before taking his first sip. He made a delighted noise, and Kurt narrowed his eyes at him into a mock glare and took his own first sip, making a point to swallow even though it had probably burnt his throat.

Somehow, drinking their coffee seemed to have become a competition between the two of them as to who could take in the largest mouthful and then swallow it without choking. It was kind of ridiculous, and it was much harder than you would think because they ended up with chipmunk cheeks to take in as much as possible so it took a large amount of self-restraint to stop themselves from bursting out into hysterics at each other's ridiculous expressions. It turned out that they were both highly competitive, which meant that there was no time for talking until they had slurped down the entire contents in the cups right down to the last dregs. It was after those last dregs had been swallowed that they were able to burst out into laughter.

"So, what do you want to know?" Keats sank back into his chair, arms folded, smile on his face. "Ask me anything…except what happened in Freshman year." he added, after some consideration. Kurt huffed, rolled his eyes, and considered the question. There was so much that he wanted to know, but he couldn't think of any questions. He searched around for something simple and without real meaning.

"What sport do you do?" Keats pulled a face of mock-hurt, gasping.

"Kurt, I'm _offended_! How could you not have noticed what pin I was wearing?" Kurt opened his mouth, cheeks blushing, faltered, and then closed it.

"I was distracted," he said, finally. "There was a lot to take in that evening." Keats rolled his eyes, readjusting his position in the chair.

"Yes, there certainly was…and, for your information, I'm on the non-competitive swim team." Kurt nodded, not really having anything to say.

"Cool…so, is that the same as Juri?" Keats blinked, possibly slightly surprised that Juri had been mentioned, but then shook his head.

"No, not really." Kurt quirked an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me Juri is on the _competitive_ team?" Keats shrugged.

"He is…sort of." Kurt continued to stare at him in confusion and mild disbelief. Keats sighed. "Juri's sort of halfway between the two…He basically fills in for Drew's spot because Drew can't always make practise, or galas." Kurt nodded in understanding.

"Isn't that difficult, switching schedules or whatever?" Keats shook his head, the traces of annoyance beginning to show on his features.

"No, we train at the same time, just in different lanes." Kurt nodded again.

"I wouldn't have thought that he wasn't strong enough to compete in swimming; he's so small, he must only be good for short distances." Keats let out the faintest of annoyed huffs and slumped a little in his chair.

"No, the opposite; Juri's only any good at long distances." He looked up at Kurt's confused face. "Juri's too small to get ahead of the others, really, in a short space of time, but give him a couple of lengths and he's well in contention." Keats shrugged. "He doesn't swim consistently, though, because of Drew, but when he does he has the hardest races; the 200 and 400 IM, normally, and he tends to not make it onto the medal podium." Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Come again?" questioned Kurt, the part about an "_IM_" going completely over his rolled his eyes.

"IM; individual medley…That means that he swims all of the four strokes in one race." Kurt nodded.

"I see, what do you swim?" Keats shrugged.

"I don't really specialise because I don't have to race…I just have to struggle through training…" Kurt nodded, mildly interested in learning a bit more about Dalton culture as a whole.

"Do we have a good swim team?" Keats shrugged, pulling a thoughtful expression.

"If we had Drew we'd probably be top of the league, but, without him and Juri instead, we tend to place third-fourth-fifth…It could be worse, but it's annoying as hell when we _know_ we can do better." Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you keep saying "_we_"? You're not on the team." Keats shrugged again.

"Community feel of Dalton?" he guessed. "That, and I have to go to all the galas for support…it's not that attractive for other people; no cheerleaders…but there are lots of fit guys…" Kurt wasn't really sure what to say to that statement, given that him and Keats were _dating_ and all, so he just swallowed, and moved the conversation on.

"So, is there a difference between your pin and the pin of the competitive team?" Keats nodded.

"Yeah, on ours we have this, like, _watermark_ of a…you know those "_no enter_" signs that are a red circle with a red diagonal line through it?" Kurt nodded. "Yeah, one of those faded into the background." Kurt nodded.

"Maybe I'll come with you to the next meet, I'd like to see Juri compete." Keats smiled in an amused manner, for some reason that Kurt couldn't work out.

"Just as long as you don't get jealous…" he said with a wink, and Kurt snorted, and then frowned.

"Don't people…I don't know…feel awkward about that kind of thing?" Keats raised an eyebrow, snorting.

"Kurt, a third of Dalton is homo, bi, or some other kind of not-heterosexual." Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Really, _bi_?" Keats frowned at him, looking a little bit confused.

"Yeah, bi, what's wrong with that?" There was an awkward moment in which Kurt just looked at him with mild incredulity whilst Keats frowned at him in complete perplexity. Eventually, Kurt broke the awkward silence.

"Well, just, don't we both know that "_bi_" is just a term that gay guys use when they want to hold hands with girls in high school and not feel like they don't fit in. I mean, I _know_, I've been there, but it's not _right_." Keats' mouth had actually dropped open in shock. All composure seemed to have vanished. Beneath his normally ever so put together mask was a look of pure _horror_.

"Kurt…" he managed to get out, grey eyes abnormally wide. "You- you _can't_ talk about people like that." his voice was a hoarse whisper, and Kurt was completely taken aback by Keats' reaction to his simple statement.

"Oh, come on," he said, rolling his eyes. "when has anyone who was "_bi_" ever had a long lasting relationship with a woman? Look at Daley." Now Keats was incredibly pale too, and he looked mildly queasy.

"Kurt, I might not get on with _anyone_ in that group of friends anymore, but even _I_ feel no kind of enmity towards Daley, not after what happened." Kurt frowned at him.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded, and Keats seemed to struggle for his voice. "He said he was bi, and then his girlfriend dumped him, because of a _guy_…He was just using her to hide his homosexuality…" Keats sat forward very abruptly, face ashen.

"Kurt, are you _listening_ to me?" he demanded, his voice very low. Kurt blinked.

"Yes."

"Did you _hear_ what I said before you just spouted out that piece of trashy gossip." Kurt flinched backwards at the scathing tone of his voice.

"Yes, I did."

"So, like I said; even _I_ can't talk ill about someone like Daley, now I don't _know_ anything…Christ, Hammonds put a "_no-questions_" ban on it." Kurt raised an eyebrow. Keats sighed. "It's a thing that can happen if _terrible_ things happen to someone so that all we know about it is what Hammonds told us; _not_ to ask about it, but I- I do know that he was, truly, _bi_sexual." he took a deep breath, his eyes marginally fearful. "Do you have _any_ idea of the kind of trouble that you could get into for saying something like that?" Kurt stared at him, taken aback by the seriousness in his eyes, and the fact that he was defending one of _Sebastian's_ best friends.

"No, what kind of trouble _could_ I get in?"

"You could be _expelled_ for _discrimination_, Kurt, that's how serious what you just said is." Kurt took a deep breath, remembering Jeff's reaction when Kurt had told him about his views on religion.

"I don't understand. What is it with Dalton? _Every time_ I say one of my views I get something rammed down my throat about discrimination!" Keats took a deep breath.

"Because, and _please_, Kurt, don't overreact, you _are_ discriminating! How would you feel if I told you that you weren't gay – that it was just something you were hiding?" Kurt took a deep breath.

"Obviously that's you being discriminatory, but-"

"Kurt, just because it's your view, doesn't mean you have the right to express it! You _of all people_ should know that!"

"I don't believe what I'm hearing!" exclaimed Kurt, sitting back in incomprehension. "I make _one_ little point about what _I_ think and you're jumping down my throat, practically _accusing_ me of being like all those _Neanderthals_ back at McKinley! Why can't I have a different view?" Keats let out a sigh, looking tiredly patient.

"I'm not saying that you _can't_ say that, but I'm saying that you have to have _respect_ for other people's views. I'm saying that you _don't know_ Daley, and you _don't know_ what happened; _I_ don't know what happened! Heck, I don't think that anyone apart from Sebastian and Morrison knows what _really_ happened! I just know that even _I_ – who couldn't _stand_ Daley at the beginning of Sophomore year – know that what happened _wasn't his fault_, and it _wasn't_ because he was "_hiding his homosexuality_" or whatever other crap the Goody's threw at him!"

Kurt stared at Keats, his mind whirring incredibly fast. He wasn't really sure what had happened between them, but he was aware that they were right in the middle of a fully-fledged argument. Kurt had to admit that, maybe, he shouldn't have brought Daley into this; he really did only know the scantiest of the dirtiest gossip about what had made him withdraw from filming midway through the third series of _Turn Left for Hell_.

Kurt took a deep breath in and tried to calm down. He didn't want to get straight into a row with his first boyfriend, and he didn't want to lose Keats when he wasn't even sure why they were fighting. He had his views; he wasn't religious, and he didn't appreciate it being shoved down his throat, but…if he stopped and thought about it, Jeff hadn't tried to tell him that he _should_ be religious, he just looked saddened and had "_pitied_" him.

Kurt closed his eyes, massaging his temples and had to admit that he probably ought to save his judgement on bisexuals until after he'd actually properly met one. He just didn't like people hiding their sexuality and being afraid of who they were. Kurt got _all_ the crap because he was honest about who he was, so why should the people who lied and _hid_ and were _cowards_ be happier than he was? That just wasn't fair on so many levels.

"Come on," said Keats, reaching over and peeling his hands away from the sides of his face. "let's just…let it go, alright?" he rubbed his thumbs into the back of Kurt's hands, and Kurt gave him a smile.

"Yeah…"

"I'm not saying that what you said about Daley was "_okay_", but I think…" he shrugged. "You just need to…_soften_ your words." he nodded for both of them, and Kurt just sighed and let himself feel calmed and comforted.

"I'm just…" he took a deep breath. "I went through a phase when I thought I was losing my dad, and I…" he let out a long sigh, eyes flickering shut. "I pretended to be…all kind of "_butch_" like him, and I had a "_girlfriend_" and I had never been more unhappy…no one was _teasing_ me, but…" he shrugged. "It made me miserable. I just- it's not fair that my life was only bearable when it was a lie. Being me was the only thing that I really _had_…" he shrugged, swallowing heavily, and Keats squeezed his hands.

"It's okay, Kurt, really I promise it is. I think I get what you're saying, but…" he exhaled through his nose. "I think you should get to know somebody who's bi before you make a definite decision…I can introduce you to quite a few guys if you want?" Kurt smiled at him, letting out a quiet laugh.

"That might be nice, I've been meaning to get to know some other guys at Dalton." Keats gave him a larger grin.

"Alright, let's stick to some more light-hearted questions, okay?" Kurt nodded.

"I whole heartedly agree."

"I believe it's my turn." smirked Keats, not letting go of Kurt's hands. He pulled a thoughtful face before smiling. "Now, this isn't exactly light-hearted, but…I've been wondering for some time, I know that you were looking at our website, but why _us_ out of all the tolerant schools in Lima?" Kurt sighed, a slightly frown appearing as he tried to remember what had drawn him to Dalton in particular.

"I don't know," he said, finally. "I just Googled it one day. I was sick and tired of being bullied so I typed in something like "_bullying policies in high schools_" into the search engine, and yours popped up some way down the page with your zero-tolerance for harassment." He sighed, breaking out into a small smile and shrugging. "Let's just say that _that_ caught my attention." Keats nodded in understanding, an intent look upon his face. "I kept reading your page. I surfed around a little bit more to make sure you were actually _real_, and one day I went out of my room and left the window open, and my dad came up and he saw it. I don't think he read much then, but he looked it up in his own time – neither of us said anything to each other when we saw the tuition fee, but…" Kurt shrugged. "When Karofsky got his expulsion overturned my dad suggested it to me." Keats nodded in understanding.

"I see…I was just wondering how you stumbled across our simple website." Kurt gave him a disbelieving stare, arching his eyebrow.

"Your website is hardly "_simple_" – you've got dozens of pictures and little quotes and links and other things all done in some fancy format…though your colour scheme is a bit, err, odd." Keats burst out laughing and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, the maroon and the blue don't exactly go together, but, in our defence, we were intending to do red and blue like our uniform, but the red made it look like someone had _bled_ all over the screen – not exactly an attractive or desirable sight." He rolled his eyes. "That, and Andy's computer kept throwing a hissy fit every time we tried to change the shade of red, and it was too much effort to use another one so we thought maroon and blue, why not?" Kurt shook his head, smirking.

"Naturally," he muttered. Keats gave him a smirk out of the corner of his mouth, winking at him for some reason that Kurt couldn't quite understand but didn't both questioning because it was just an insignificant gesture that said they were back to normal.

* * *

Blaine let the door slam behind him as he dashed into the room. He looked around his room and was pleased to remember that Thad was going through one of his clean phases that meant the whole room was completely spotless. He supposed that that was a good thing because if the room had been a mess then he probably would have freaked out because his brain was going haywire because he'd completely forgotten what Kurt had said about dressing, and if the room was messy he would probably end up going berserk about whether all of his stuff was in the place that he had last left it.

He ran a hand through his hair and blinked several times, trying to work out what he needed to do to make himself ready for his first date. He had no idea what he was doing. God, he really needed someone talking sense into his ear at this moment because his brain was telling him to go insane and just lose his head completely…and he really needed to keep that because otherwise Sebastian would insult him into the next century.

He took a deep breath in, putting his hands over his face and shutting his eyes in the vain hope that he could block out the rest of the world long enough for him to regain some semblance of sanity. He knew that there was no real reason to be panicking over this because Sebastian had seen him at his best and his absolute, marginally suicidal _worst_ and still loved him, but he couldn't help himself. He felt bad because it was always Sebastian that had to adjust and change in their relationship, and that wasn't fair. Blaine should have to do that too, but he didn't really know how. He felt like if he presented himself in a way that he knew Sebastian would like then he'd be able to do that, except he was pretty sure that made no sense, and even if it did he had no idea _how_ to do that.

He undid the button on his blazer, and he pulled it off, flinging it onto his bed. He pulled off his tie and flung that on top of his blazer. He ran a hand through his hair once more and undid the top couple of buttons as he struggled to think past getting out of his school uniform, and he needed to think of something else to put on after that because he couldn't go out naked, though he knew that Sebastian would probably have no qualms against that because he was _Sebastian_.

He walked over to his wardrobe and threw the doors open. He looked at his array of colourful shirts, polo shirts, cardigans and sweaters, not to mention the boxes of bright bowties. He blinked a couple of times and looked at them all; they really weren't giving him any feedback.

He groaned and slumped forward, falling forward into the soft fabric until his forehead impacted into the wooden back of the wardrobe. He groaned and had the sudden urge to collapse into it and curl up into a ball to save himself from any kind of embarrassment that he would inevitably have to experience because all Blaine really did was embarrass himself. It was a really annoying character trait that he seemed to have.

But, no! He and Sebastian were a _couple_, and he wanted this so badly that he could barely believe had been able to live through all those years without him. He had a _duty_ to Sebastian to go out on that date…that, and he _seriously_ wanted to. He loved Sebastian. This was going to be one of the best days of his life if he gave it a chance and manned up and faced it all. This was going to be-

"_Fuck_!" yelled Blaine, ducking out of the wardrobe, hand flying to the back of his head, as he toppled over. The back of his head felt goddamn painful because, at the end of his motivational speech, he'd leapt up in a burst of positivity and forgotten about the metal bar that acted as a railing that he hung his clothes on and so had cracked his head against it.

He groaned as he rolled onto his front, his back aching from crashing onto the floor, and his head protesting against being smacked into a metal bar and then the floor. He could not believe that he had managed to do that. God, that was something that Juri would do…except Juri probably wasn't tall enough to do that to himself because he was shorter than Blaine, which was kind of saying something.

He pushed himself up so that he was sitting on the floor and rubbed his head several times. He touched the back of his head tentatively to make sure that his head wasn't bleeding because that would be a really bad thing, and he could have concussion of something, but it was not so that was really good. Now, he could get back into his positive bubble of happiness and confidence about the date. That was a far better place to be than rolling on the floor clutching his head, and completely terrified of what would happen on the date.

He got to his feet and rubbed his head once more, just to make sure that he really was okay, and then turned towards his open wardrobe once more. He reached in and pulled out a pair of black, skinny jeans that he could wear. He went to kick off his shoes, and then realised that he'd tied his laces tight enough to stop him from doing that exact thing. He rolled his eyes at his own stupidity and bent down to untie them, eventually kicking them off so that they were rolling under his bed. He changed into his jeans and then went back to staring at his shirts.

He reached in and pulled out a couple, trying to pick one and remember what colours Sebastian liked/liked him in. His mind was blank, and he decided that he was going to blame the head injury for that because that was a hell of a lot less embarrassing for him, and he could not believe how often this happened to him as well. Why was it always his brain that melted into a pool of goo every time he needed it?

"Why aren't you changed?" he spun around as Thad came into the room, frowning. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, shrugging.

"Um, I had a slight accident, and so I was slightly delayed." Thad frowned at him, rolling his eyes, and then walked over the wardrobe. He rifled through the shirts before pulling out a blue and white checked shirt, navy V-neck jumper and red and blue bowtie. He threw them at Blaine, arching an eyebrow that demanded to know what the problem was. Blaine stared at the clothes, trying to decide whether or not to take Thad's fashion advice. Thad wandered around in t-shirts, jeans and fleeces most of the time so it was really hard to gauge whether he had any sense of fashion.

"You can take my advice, or you can deliberate in here until Sebastian drags you out whilst you're half dressed." Blaine had to admit that Thad had a point about that. Thad's fashion sense would have to do for today otherwise he'd probably never go on the date.

"Thanks," he muttered and hurriedly changed as Thad walked over to his desk and began to open his books. "What do you think about my hair?" he demanded as he spun around, indicating to the messy of gelled curls that sat atop his head. Thad narrowed his eyes, pulling a face of obvious indecision.

"Um…fine…" he guessed, after a while. "I mean, Sebastian does like your curls, right?" Blaine bit down on the inside of his lip and then nodded.

"Okay, good, you're right, excellent!" he beamed, grabbed his jacket and gave Thad a wider grin. "Thanks for the help!" he exclaimed as he darted from a room, and then froze, back tracking back into his bedroom. Thad's eyebrow arched. "Where's Sebastian?" Thad shrugged and tilted his head to the side.

"Room?" he guessed. "His or Daley's, I'm guessing." Blaine shot him one last grin and rushed back out of the room, running over to Sebastian's door. He took a deep breath in, trying to get himself to calm down, before he knocked on the door.

"Come in!" came the call, and Blaine took in another huge breath of air, and then pushed the door open. Peering around the door, he saw that Sebastian – dressed in jeans, rugby shirt and jacket – was sitting on his bed, talking with Daley who sat by his side. Sebastian broke out into a smile, getting to his feet, and Daley grinned.

"Hey," he muttered, trying to unstick his throat so that he could talk properly to his boyfriend. "I'm ready." Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"Really?" he asked, eyebrow arching scathingly, and Daley reached forward to whack him, telling him to be polite. "And so am I, let's go. Call me if you need anything," Daley got to his feet, giving them both a tight lipped smile that said he was okay with the silent reminder of _Tom_ he was getting.

"You know I'm not going to do that," said Daley as Blaine stepped back out into the hall, Sebastian a couple of steps behind. "I'll call Wes, or Morrison, or Ros, or someone that's just not _you_, okay?" Sebastian rolled his eyes and shook his head, but decided that it wasn't worth arguing the point. "Have fun," he said, and Sebastian rolled his eyes once more, disparaging of Daley's statement, and Daley simply shook his head and walked into his own room.

Blaine looked up at Sebastian nervously, biting down on his lower lip as he gave him a tiny smile. Sebastian continued to stare after Daley for a couple of seconds before turning to Blaine. He eyed him up and down once, making Blaine feel more nervous, and then his smile reappeared.

"So," he said, glancing around. "I take it that I'm not being threatened with bodily harm?" Blaine snorted a little bit, feeling himself relax.

"I don't think Thad is _that_ stupid." Sebastian pulled a deliberating face that apparently questioned the fact, despite Thad being an academic scholar, and then he smirked.

"Well, I suppose I may have dodged a bullet with that…though I seriously doubt Thad's ability to be at all threatening-slash-intimidating…let's go," and with that, Sebastian grabbed Blaine's hand and began to tow him from Franklin. People wolf-whistled at the sight of them coming down the stairs and through the common room, causing Blaine to blush scarlet and hide his face behind his hand, and Sebastian smirked around at all of them in response, giving them all a look that said something along the lines of; "_yes, I know I'm your God. I'm glad that you finally understand that you should all be bowing down and kissing my feet, and the ground on which I walk, and worshipping my presence. I am that awesome…and, no, I'm not going to thank you for what you're doing._", or something of that sort.

"Where are we going?" he asked, looking up at his boyfriend. Sebastian shook his head, smirking down at him with a knowing look in his eyes.

"You really don't understand the concept of a surprise, do you?" Blaine rolled his eyes, huffing in an annoyance because _of course_ he understood the concept of a surprise, he just didn't particularly like them, especially not where Sebastian was involved because he loved Sebastian with all his heart but he didn't exactly trust that smirk of his.

"You know full well that I'm not overly keen on surprises, I don't really take them well!" Sebastian's head tilted to the side, pulling that deliberating face again.

"Well, I wouldn't disagree with that statement at all, but still, this makes it a whole lot more fun." Blaine narrowed his eyes as he looked up at Sebastian.

"For you or me?" he asked, cautiously, not entirely sure that he wanted to know the answer to that. Sebastian's playful smirk got wider, and Blaine felt something inside of him squirm in a mixture of excitement and nerves.

"You know I have only your best intentions at heart," he said, pulling out his hurt face, and Blaine rolled his eyes and arched his eyebrows because that didn't answer the question. Sebastian gave him a dazzling smile. "I am in love with you, Blaine, I didn't ask you on a date so that I could humiliate you," Blaine grinned up at his boyfriend in pleasure. "because that would be a waste of time; I can do that well enough at Dalton." Blaine really ought to have expected that comment – or something of the sort – to come and the smile on his face to fall, but he still got that sinking feeling in him that said Sebastian had once more punctured a happy balloon inside of him.

"I hate you," he grumbled as he walked around the side of Sebastian's car. Sebastian, rolling his eyes, unlocked the sports car accompanied with a beep, and shot him a hurt look that had Blaine immediately feeling bad. Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"You need to work on being more of a cold-hearted bitch, Blaine, we should set some time aside so that I can give you some more intensive lessons." Blaine was given a wink as Sebastian slid into the driver's seat. He felt himself flush and pursed his lips together, trying to get rid of his embarrassed grin, and then pulled the passenger door open and got in as Sebastian honked on the horn.

"I like not being cold-hearted," he said, doing up his seatbelt and pouting at Sebastian. Sebastian rolled his eyes and leant over as he buckled himself in, kissing him on the lips. He felt his eyes go slightly wide even though it ought not to be a surprise, but he relaxed when Sebastian's hand came up to linger gently against his cheek before he pulled away.

"Hmm, I might have to agree with you that," he said, drawing back with a self-satisfied look perfectly planted on his lips. Blaine flushed and sat back in his seat, tucking himself neatly in. Sebastian gave him a fond look. "Let's roll," he said, turning on the engine and starting the car. "want any music?" he asked, and Blaine nodded, silently asking whether he was allowed to touch the car. Sebastian rolled his eyes. "If you break anything I'll be delighted; I can charge my dad a shit load for it." Blaine bit down on the inside of his lip, not sure what to say, but nodded eventually.

"Okay," he said, reaching forward to turn on the radio. He fiddled around for a little bit, trying to find a station that was playing something he vaguely liked. However, Sebastian was glaring at him in a manner that said the fleeting sounds of individual channels was beginning to annoy him so he quickly settled on latest station.

_…Down, down_

_You oughta know_

_Tonight is the night to let it go_

_Put on a show_

_I wanna see how you lose control…_

Sebastian joined in instantly, and Blaine blushed slightly as Sebastian kept shooting him sideways, flirty looks. He found that all he could do was laugh, half embarrassed and half amused, as Sebastian smirked and quirked his eyebrows along with the music. Blaine found that, most of all, it was easy to just be really relieved that things seemed really easy between them at the moment instead of the awkward silences that he had been expecting.

_So baby, don't worry_

_You are my only_

_You won't be lonely_

Blaine took over, completely in sync with Sebastian, dancing around in his seat as best as he could. Sebastian was shaking his head in a manner that suggested he thought that Blaine was an embarrassment to be with, but Blaine knew that, internally, Sebastian was probably in hysterics – he'd just never let Blaine have the satisfaction of knowing that Sebastian thought what he was doing was funny.

_Even if the sky is falling down_

_You'll be my only_

_No need to worry_

_Baby, are you down, down, down, down, down?_

_Down, down_

The two of them joined their voices together for the chorus without any communication at all. Blaine loved how singing with Sebastian had become second nature to him. He knew how to perform with Sebastian – his _boyfriend_ (yes, he was still excited about that!) – and it felt _great_. He had so much difficulty, a lot of the time, with knowing what to do around Sebastian, but this was so easy.

_Baby, are you down, down, down, down, down?_

_Down, down_

_Even if the sky is falling down?…_

Blaine actually hated this song; he thought the lyrics were bad and the tune was pretty annoying, and, basically, it was just shit all round in his opinion, but singing it with Sebastian made it something special. He and Sebastian hadn't sung together for fun for ages because they were both really busy so they sung each other songs from Warblers, or their solos, instead. Or Sebastian sang to Blaine when he was sad and depressed and needed something to cheer him up, or to make sure that Blaine knew that he wasn't alone. Fun never really seemed to be on their singing agenda anymore, which was seriously sad.

Except there was no time to dwell on that; Sebastian speeding them away from Dalton at a speed that was almost certainly illegal, and the world outside the windows of the car was an insignificant blur, and that meant that Blaine could pretend that the rest of the world didn't exist. Blaine could pretend that it was only him and Sebastian, and he could feel truly safe. If there was nothing out there, then Blaine didn't have to worry about what might happen to them for being openly gay because it was just Sebastian, and Sebastian would never hurt him.

_Down like she 'posed to be_

"_Blaine_!" exclaimed Sebastian, shooting him a glare, as the rap started, and Blaine took up Lil Wayne's part with enthusiasm. Blaine just grinned back at him, still rapping;

_She gets down low for me_

_Down like her temperature_

_'Cause to me she zero degrees_

"_Blaine_," grumbled Sebastian, still giving him evils at every opportunity. "what did we tell you about rapping?" Blaine gave a falsely innocent shrug whilst he made ridiculous, rapper movements with his hands.

_She cold, over freeze_

_I got that girl from overseas_

_Now she's my Miss America_

_Now can I be her soldier, please?_

Sebastian thunked his head into the steering wheel when they came to a stop at the red, and Blaine managed to fit a tiny laugh into the rap, still bouncing around in his seat in a manner that was garnering him weird looks from the family in the car next to them, but he was having too much fun to care about what other people thought about him at the moment.

_I'm fightin' for this girl_

_On the battlefield of love_

_Don't it look like baby cupid_

_Sent her arrows from above?_

"I do not know you," muttered Sebastian, probably to himself, as they began to drive again and pointedly not making eye contact with Blaine. Blaine got the impression that, again, Sebastian was probably laughing away on the inside, if only at Blaine's expense because he looked like an idiot.

_Don't you ever leave the side of me_

_Indefinitely, not probably_

_And honestly, I'm down like the economy_

_Baby, don't worry_

_You are my only…_

Sebastian took over the tune, belting it out loudly, probably in an attempt to rid his mind of the sound of Blaine's rapping, and Blaine bent forward in his seat, laughing hysterically at himself because he knew that he was ridiculous and stupid, but that had been so much fun! He really wished the Warblers would let him do that again.

_Baby, are you down, down, down, down, down?_

_Down, down_

He joined back in with Sebastian, sending him one of his charming, dapper smiles – Sebastian wasn't the only one to have perfected a polite, I-am-completely-upright-and-perfect-but-not-in-a-s elf-conceited-or-snobbish-way persona – to which Sebastian simply rolled his eyes in an amused manner.

_Baby, are you down, down, down, down, down?_

_Down, down_

_Even if the sky is falling down?_

_And the sky is falling down_

The drive instantly became some form of karaoke with the two of them singing whatever came onto the radio, making up the lyrics to songs they didn't know. Sebastian changed station every time any form of rap came on the air, and Blaine found that most of the time he was laughing as Sebastian pulled faces that said Blaine's singing was bad, that Blaine was insane, that Sebastian was embarrassed to be seen with Blaine, that Sebastian was insane for being with Blaine, that he was secretly amused…the usual Sebastian kind of thing.

Throughout all that, Blaine kept one eye on the passing scenery, trying to work out where Sebastian was taking him. It all looked rather unfamiliar because Blaine really only went out of Dalton when Nick decided that it was time for them to go bowling once more, but this wasn't anywhere near the shopping complex that held the bowling alley so he had no idea where he was. He knew that Sebastian would likely have a detailed agenda of what they were going to do, so he knew that the best thing he could was simply wait until they reached wherever the hell they were going.

Patience wasn't really Blaine's thing, though, and so he found himself shifting about in his seat, and not just in time to the beat. He knew that Sebastian was smirking from the glint in his eyes when he kept snatching sideways looks at him as he shifted around in his seat, and when the car began to slow down he was practically vibrating up and down in his seat.

"Okay," said Sebastian as they came to a stop by some park. "I know it's cold outside, but you planned that thing in my bedroom, and you seriously liked that afternoon we spent out in Barca, so I thought…" he gestured towards the bandstand. Blaine broke into a grin. "I mean, there are other people in the park, but I managed to hire it out. We should be fine." Blaine broke out into a wide grin and reached over to hug his boyfriend.

"Thank you!" he exclaimed. Sebastian shrugged in a casual manner.

"I brought some blankets and such, and there's more coming this evening, though I think you can guess what that might involve." Blaine nodded with a smile.

"But I'm okay in this, right?" Sebastian arched his eyebrow at Blaine in a condescending manner that demanded to know whether he thought Sebastian would give him incorrect information, or if he thought that Sebastian anymore smartly dressed than him. "Whatever," he said, rolling his eyes. Sebastian grinned at him, and the two of them got out of the car. Sebastian opened up the boot and pulled out some blankets, tossing them to Blaine. Blaine clutched them in his arms as Sebastian pulled out a wicker basket. Blaine snorted at the sight of it. Sebastian glared at him.

"Shut up, it's the only basket at Dalton with a bottom on it, and Daley was the only person that I could ask without dying." Blaine simply smirked at him, silently agreeing with him on that because if he'd ask anyone else for it then they'd have laughed hysterically and teased him forever.

"I didn't say anything," he said in reply. Sebastian scowled at him and nabbed one of the blankets from Blaine and threw it over both their shoulders as they walked side by side. Blaine had to admit that he didn't feel that cold with Sebastian by his side. Sebastian's side brushed against his and that warmed him up on the inside.

"I bet you didn't," he grumbled, but, like always, Blaine could hear the fond undercurrents in his voice that he saved just for him. He really loved Sebastian.

There was still snow on the grass, and this felt totally insane because it was so cold outside, but when they got there, Sebastian laid out a picnic blanket on the floor and piled up the blankets around them so that they could sit down side by side and be warm. Sebastian opened the basket and began to unpack the food. Blaine felt his stomach rumble because they'd barely had lunch before Wes had pressganged them back to Warbler rehearsal.

"So, I kind of raided all of the food out of the fridge in Franklin so we may or may not be murdered by ravenous wolves when we get back, but I couldn't exactly remember what you like…all I could remember was that you don't like lilies." Blaine rolled his eyes.

"It's not that I don't like lilies," he said. "it's that I'm _allergic_ to them." Sebastian rolled his eyes and simply continued to take out food. Blaine looked at his boyfriend, marvelling at the way Sebastian had the ability to remember whole swathes of conversation word for word but couldn't remember a simple thing like what Blaine was allergic to – albeit not too badly.

They fell into comfortable silence as they sat side by side, leaning on each other, and ate their way through all of the food that Sebastian had packed. He really hadn't been joking when he said that he'd taken out all the food in Franklin because there were some things there like Alan Wishaw's peanut butter – Alan was neurotic about it because, for some unknown reason, it was _special_ – that was not to be touched on pain of sulphuric acid on toes (he wasn't joking either; Louis Clark had had his toes burnt when Blaine was a Freshman because he'd eaten some.) and Sebastian really ought to know not to take. When he asked why he'd been stupid enough to do that; Alan was _in _his year, Sebastian had simply shrugged and muttered that it was there so he'd taken it.

The longer that they sat there, though, especially when the food supply began to diminish and then disappeared completely, the more awkward the silence seemed to get. Blaine wasn't sure what was wrong all of a sudden, but he felt fidgety and nervous. He suddenly had the huge desire to make conversation. He could feel the silence urging him on into a conversation that he hadn't thought of yet, and those conversations were always his worst because he tended to start stupid ones.

"How's Daley?" he asked, eventually. "Cam seems to be fitting in fine, but I haven't really seen that much of Daley." Sebastian sighed heavily, relaxing backwards onto his elbows so that Blaine had to twist to look down around to look him in the eye.

"Daley is…Daley is fine," he said, eventually. "He's sleeping well, he's not flashing back…Most of the time, it's like it never happened. I'm glad…He's so much better than before, actually. I'm surprised. He's calmed down a lot now that school is under swing properly." Blaine smiled at him, silently transmitting his glee and relief. Sebastian nodded. "Yeah, I know, it's great." The silence fell again. Blaine knew that that avenue of conversation was officially closed. He could pick up on Sebastian's silent hint to not pursue that topic.

He bit down on the inside of his lip and tried to think of something else he could say. It was strangely hard to find something to talk about with him. He didn't understand why this was a problem all of a sudden, and he was immediately struck with the painful thought of what if it was him. What if he was so boring that it was impossible to talk to him, and what if Sebastian realised this and broke up with him?

"I don't like that face," commented Sebastian easily, looking up at him with calculating eyes that were narrowed. Blaine sighed and ran a hand through his hair, glancing away from Sebastian, "Ah," said Sebastian, sitting up and taking a hold of his chin, turning his face to him. Blaine hesitantly met his eyes, not sure what they would say. "you're filled with self-doubt," commented Sebastian, knowingly. Blaine sighed, shrugging.

"What? It's just-" he broke off, looking away because one of the thoughts that he'd had at the party was coming back to haunt him. Him and Sebastian didn't talk at all, all Sebastian really wanted to do was make-out, and, yes, he randomly dropped flowers into Blaine's room and made him breakfast, sort of, but…It just- he didn't feel at all like Sebastian liked him as a person in this very moment.

"Blaine, I can read you like a picture book, remember, so, pray, tell me why do you think that our relationship is ending?" Blaine looked pointedly away from Sebastian with his burning eyes and bit down on the inside of his lip.

"We can't- this isn't easy, you know?" he said, and knew immediately that Sebastian was confused. "I meant that if this was you and Wes, or you and Daley, or whatever, you'd be talking away casually, and everything would be relaxed and not weighed down with an awkward silence." He chanced a look back at his boyfriend and saw that Sebastian was frowning at him intensely. "I mean," he continued, heartened by the silence for once. "that you know me _completely_, and we can't even have a casual conversation…It's like- I just can't escape the feeling that you don't like – _love_ – me as a person."

"Right," said Sebastian, arching an eyebrow and pulling a condescending expression. "so I love you because you're an alien." Blaine glowered at him and shoved him, knowing that Sebastian understood perfectly what he'd meant. Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Blaine, Blaine, Blaine, how many times do we have to go through this? I find you sexually attractive; very much so, but I don't love you because of the way you look because that would be very strange." Blaine frowned at him, and Sebastian rolled his eyes once more in exasperation. "Look, I'm really attracted to you, but I love you because you're this screwed up, but highly charming, kid that is somehow both incredibly naïve and horribly world weary; you believe there is so much to life whilst you sometimes which your own was over; you fight in the face of fear every day yet you still believe that you're a coward; somehow, you're both aggravatingly optimistic and hopelessly depressed…" Sebastian stared at him, intensely. "You are most certainly the most interesting person I will ever meet."

Blaine looked at Sebastian, swallowing down his fear and feelings of confusion, and found that it was completely impossible for him to try and disagree with Sebastian; he really hated it when Sebastian did that because Blaine kind of wanted to argue his point, but he couldn't. He knew that it was kind of stupid to want to argue with Sebastian – to try and win an argument with Sebastian that was really about his own self-esteem – but he felt the need to.

"That still doesn't explain the silence," he said at last. Sebastian rolled his eyes, shaking his head in an annoyed manner that said he was annoyed that Blaine had ignored what he'd said – Blaine really hadn't, he was just more focused on other things – and letting out a huge sigh.

"It's like I said, I know you. We can read each other, and that means we don't need words. I mean, what's so special about talking?" Blaine stared at him, struggling to find the way to articulate what he was feeling and thinking.

"I just- it feels like…like we- we _should_…" he muttered, knowing that Sebastian was going to ridicule him for his desire to be like other people and paying attention to social norms.

"Blaine, we're both _gay_ – that's why we're dating, obviously – and quite a large majority of society would say that it's completely against social standards for us to even be dating; I don't think we should pay attention to what people should "_normally_" do on their dates. Let us define our own way to be normal, or, to become deeply philosophical, what _is_ normal? Is it merely a state of equilibrium that we believe we see in some people, but in fact simply masks their own faults or quirks whilst they gaze at us and pine after _our_ normal?"

Blaine groaned, hating it when Sebastian decided to adopt his very wise and serious tone of voice because Blaine knew there was no way to outsmart him, and slumped backwards against his boyfriend. Sebastian raised his arms so wrap and around Blaine's front, and Blaine closed his eyes, trying to tune out the rest of the world and focus only on the Sebastian's solidness and safety. He felt Sebastian's lips brush against his forehead, kissing him softly and in a protective manner, and was suddenly struck by a memory that made him smile widely, snorting.

"What?" asked Sebastian, and Blaine tilted his head back so that he was looking up into the upside down face of his boyfriend.

"Nothing, just…I remembered the first time you did that." There was a pause in which Blaine could see Sebastian trawling through his mental catalogue of all his memories before his face fell into one of understanding, both of them sharing the same moment:

_…"There,…I'd never do that to Keats…I care about you, Blaine, I __**really**__ do…please don't forget that." _

_"I won't – __**ever**__."…_

"You're pretty shit at keeping your promises," muttered Sebastian, and Blaine snorted some more, gazing up at him with a soft smile on his face, suddenly revelling in the silence that was hanging over them because it was so gentle and peaceful and reminded Blaine of that moment in Freshman year so perfectly; the moment when Sebastian had managed to take away all of his fears just through being there, being _close_, and by his side.

"I know," he replied under his breath. "I know…" Sebastian smacked his head, and Blaine gave him wide puppy dog eyes that asked him why he had done that. Sebastian glared at him.

"No insulting yourself!" he proclaimed. "I refuse to have a conversation whilst you're busy mentally beating yourself up!" Blaine chuckled under his breath.

"Okay, I promise that I'll _try_."

"What did I just say about you and your promises?" Blaine snorted a little bit, rolling his eyes. Sebastian ran a hand through his hair, and Blaine allowed his eyes lids to flicker shut, the silence overtaking them. Blaine supposed he would just have to get used to the silence between them. It wasn't always that bad, either.

* * *

_Today has been pretty much the first date that I have __**dreamed**__ of. After we stopped Q&Aing in the coffee shop, we strolled around the Westerville, and he showed me all the different shops. I managed to drag him into a couple of clothes shops and found some clothes for him: he was surprisingly compliant as acting as my Ken doll, and it felt awesome to have so many girls staring at me jealously when they saw I was with Keats – he is __**so**__ good looking; someone asked me if he was a model, and I was so tempted to say that he was but instead I left her hanging in enigmatic silence. It's great being the one on the inside for a change. Now, though, we're in the car again, and we're heading off to whatever restaurant Keats has booked for us._

"I've been here before," said Keats, randomly, into the silence. "um quite a while ago, in fact, with Blaine." Kurt arched an eyebrow, looking over at Keats in shock.

"You're taking _me_ out to the same place you took Blaine?" he asked in mild incredulity. Keats shrugged.

"I don't see why not. If I'm out here with my friends then we don't go posh; we grab takeaways most of the time, or whatever, but when I took Blaine out…It was right when he first came to Dalton, and when he was in a really bad state, and we were working on building up his self-esteem. This was the nicest looking place when I looked on the internet so I took him here." Kurt nodded a little bit.

"Was it your idea?" he asked, after a little while. "To take him out to the town?" Keats shrugged, biting down on the inside of his mouth for a moment.

"Probably…I mean, we were always making plans to try and help him get better, and a lot of those revolved around making sure that he understood that we liked him as a person and weren't just spending time with him because it was what we were "_required_" to do." Kurt nodded once, looking back out at the road before him. It was very dark outside, and Keats' headlights light up the black tarmac and made the bonnets of oncoming cars glisten.

"Do you- do you ever miss it? What you had?" Keats' face twitched a little bit as he looked up into the rear-view mirror, purposefully not making eye contact with Kurt.

"I don't think so, no. Blaine is a lot of hard work," he continued, swinging his head round to look at Kurt. "I know that you…_love_ him, still do even though you're trying hard to get over him, but you should know that he is _so much_ hard work. You say something nice, and a second later it's not enough; he needs more. _Constant_ reassurance, Kurt, _constant_…" Kurt stared at his boyfriend; at the way his hands were clenched around the wheel; at the way he was staring at the road; at the way he was so tense, and understood that that had been a question too far, but he couldn't let what Keats had said go, either. He was picking on the flaws in Blaine that other people had made; he was having a go at him for all that everybody thrown at him, and Kurt couldn't accept that.

"It's not his fault," he said, firmly. "What you said about constant reassurance; he's lost so much; he's suffered so much, is…you can't hold that against him." Keats' knuckles went white. "He didn't _choose_ to be like that."

"And I didn't _choose_ to want Sebastian." Keats snapped back, and Kurt sat back in the seat, looking away and conceding the point. Keats was right; none of this was applicable to apportioning blame. They didn't _choose_ this to happen. Keats may seem to want to project the idea that he was better off without Blaine, but Kurt knew that he would rather they hadn't have fought. He wanted to apologise for pushing, but he was getting a little sick of having to tread carefully – Keats was his boyfriend, but the others were his _best_ friends.

They didn't have to go much further in silence, thankfully, and soon Keats was indicating that he was going to park by the road on some relatively suburban looking street. Kurt looked around, not seeing the restaurant, as Keats killed the engine.

"Look, I suggest we talk more about that at a later date – pun not intended – for now, though, I would like to request your presence by my side, or opposite me I suppose, at dinner." Kurt snorted a little, not at all trying to deny that he was very charmed by Keats, and tipped his head.

"I graciously accept." Keats let out a shout of laughter and leapt out of the car. Kurt stayed put, picking up his bag and making a show of checking his appearance in mirror, waiting for Keats to open his door and offer him his arm like a true gentleman. Sure enough, Keats pulled open Kurt's door and extended out his hand, palm facing up, allowing Kurt to grasp his fingers with his own and step out of the car in a manner that was far more elegant than Keats' exit had been.

"Come on," said Keats, hooking his arm through Kurt's. "it's not a long walk; just round the corner and onto the main street, but it's easier to park off down here. I may be a senator's son, but I'm pretty sure my car could still be clamped." Kurt snorted, breath forming in the cold evening air, and leant in closer to his boyfriend, seeking his heat. Keats chuckled and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Like I said, not a long walk, but probably long enough for us to lose our fingers. I say we take this at a run." And before Kurt could object to that idea and say that he was not at all dressed for running down semi-icy pavements when it was completely dark, Keats had grabbed his hand and was towing him down the street at a run.

"You know!" he cried as he dodged a particularly treacherous looking frozen puddle. "When somebody says "_I say_" they generally leave time for the other person to voice an opinion!" Keats gave another shout of laughter.

"That's how things work in a _democracy_, Kurt; I never said that this was one!" Kurt aimed a slap at his boyfriend's shoulder as they came to a halt outside a posh looking restaurant.

"Christ, why did no one tell me that I was dating a dictator?" Keats shot him a charming smile that did not entirely mask the devilish glint of mischief in his eyes.

"Fear not! I only wish to subject you to an amazing three course meal!" Kurt snorted, rolling his eyes, and arched an eyebrow.

"Well, tempting as that sounds…" he made to walk away, but Keats jerked him back to his side, spinning him around so that Keats had an arm securely wrapped around his waist.

"I don't recall that being a question." Kurt made a show of trying to wriggle free, but Keats leapt forward to kiss him on the lips. Kurt relaxed instantly into his grip, body sagging against Keats' solid frame. Keats drew back, the mischievous glint in his eyes sparklingly fully. "Do you require any further persuasion?" Kurt snorted, blowing his breath into Keats' face as he mocked thinking.

"No, I think that I'll be quite fine with this." Keats gave him a self-satisfied smile, doing a highly accurate impression of a cat that had gotten the cream. He wormed his way out of Keats' arms and reassumed their position of having interlocked arms. Keats then led his way into the foyer of the restaurant. The smartly dressed man gave them a pleasant smile.

"Table for two in the name of the Powers," said Keats, charming smile at full force. The man made a show of checking something, giving them a look that clearly stated his mild confusion as to why two teenage boys had booked a table at a very expensive restaurant.

"Right this way," he said, indicating for the two of them to follow him into the restaurant. The two of them were led to a small table that had a small candle and some flowers sitting on it. They were given the menus, and Kurt opened it up and almost balked at the prices down the side.

"_Keats_…" he growled under his breath. "This is _really_ too much. This is place is too expensive. I mean, I know that you drive an expensive car, and have expensive clothes, but this is a step too far. I refuse for you to-" Keats leant across the table and planted a hand firmly over his lips.

"No," he said, emphatically. "listen to me. You are my _boyfriend_ and that gives me the right to pamper you to your heart's content – nay, I think that's my _duty_. I don't care that you can't afford this place; what matters is that I can, and you deserve to be taken out and treated like a _God_…even though you don't believe in them." Kurt fell silent at that, looking down at the menu once more and biting down on the inside of his lip.

"It doesn't seem fair for you to treat me to this, and for me to give nothing in return." Keats reached over and put a hand over his.

"Your company is all I need in return; your _friendship_, your _constant friendship_…" he gave Kurt a small smile. "You still stand by me, Kurt, and we might not love each other in the way that we love other people, but that doesn't mean that I don't care about you with all that I am. We have an…an _unusual_ relationship to say the least, but it works for us. I care about you with all I have. You being here; you staying despite other people trying to convince you to leave, is more than enough for me."

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Kurt and Keats broke intense eye contact to look up at their waiter. Kurt rifled through the menu hastily, swallowing slightly, whilst Keats gave Lance – according to his name badge – a smile.

"Um, can I have an orange juice, please? Kurt?" Kurt closed the menu once more and matched Keats' charming smile.

"Mineral water, please."

"Still or sparkling?"

"Erm…sparkling, thank you." The two boys were given a smile and a nod before their waiter walked off. Keats looked back at Kurt, charming smile easing up into something a little more natural.

"I really mean it, Kurt. You don't have to give me anything. I have too much money, and I would very much like to squander it over something worthwhile like you compared to pointless stuff. There is nothing worthier of my money than you…well, except for antique books; I'm a complete sucker for first editions." Kurt muffled his snort at those words in favour of giving Keats a glare that told him he was very insulted that there was something that he deemed more valuable than Kurt himself. "I'm sorry," said Keats, holding up his hands. "I thought my passion for literature was obvious to you." Kurt tilted his head to the side, arching an eyebrow.

"I knew you had a passion for _creating_ literature – prose or verse – but you never said anything about loving books to an extent that rivalled Chris!" Keats snorted a little bit, arching an eyebrow.

"I think you'll find that my love for books far exceeds-" he broke off at Kurt's disbelieving expression. Keats pulled a face. "_Fine_! I don't love books more than Chris, but I _do_ love poetry more than him. I refuse to concede that point." Kurt chortled and opened the menu, looking back at all the food that it was offering him.

"I'll give you that point as long as you tell me what the most delicious food is at this place. There's far too much for me to possibly choose from, and it's all too expensive for me to make a mistake – _don't_ contradict me, mister, I'm drawing the line at you paying for dishes that I'm not going to eat." Keats tilted his head to the side, looking at Kurt with amused eyes.

"I suppose I could take that deal." Kurt grinned at him, arching an eyebrow in a victorious manner.

"I knew you would."

The meal passed by in a sedate manner. Kurt and Keats strolled through their three delicious meals, the conversation flowing easily between them without ever touching on the heavier topics of Blaine or Sebastian and the huge fight that had happened in Freshman year. It was easy and relaxed, and half the time Kurt found himself wondering whether Keats was less of a boyfriend and more like a friend-with-benefits because being with him just _felt_ like being with one of his friends, but Kurt liked kissing him and being with him in a way that was more than that. He didn't want it to be that, though. He wanted Keats to be his boyfriend, _properly_, and he reckoned – given that Keats seemed to want that to – that it didn't really matter that their relationship was weird. Their relationship was whatever Kurt wanted it to be. So Keats _was_ his proper boyfriend…

_After all, no one said you had to love someone to be going out with them…_

* * *

Blaine looked up at Sebastian from his position laid against the backseat of Sebastian's car. It was much warmer inside the car than it was outside, and they'd retreated back to the car in search of the heating that it provided after they'd eaten their way through most of the food (but not Alan's peanut butter because they had plans on retaining their toes). Sebastian had then proceeded to demonstrate the amount of fun they could have without talking at all, which Blaine had to admit that he preferred because it didn't lead to any awkward silences and feelings that they were wrong as a couple.

Sebastian checked his watch, and Blaine let out a groan, smirking ever so slightly at Sebastian's uncharacteristically dishevelled appearance. Sebastian shot him a glare that said he knew exactly what Blaine was smirking about and shuffled towards the door of the car, opening it and letting in a blast of cold air. Blaine let out a sharp gasp, narrowing his eyes threateningly at his boyfriend.

"Well, fun as this has been, we have places that we need to be; tick tock, tick tock." Blaine glared at Sebastian some more, telling him that he was not remotely pleased by this change of plans, and Sebastian simply smiled pleasantly and reached forward to pull Blaine upright. "Don't worry," he whispered as their foreheads touched, gently, and their noses brushed against each other. "they'll be plenty of time for more later."

"Fine," said Blaine, pouting, and Sebastian was quick to kiss the childish expression off his face. "Are you going to tell me where we're going?" he asked as Sebastian drew back, and Sebastian smirked at him, eyes sparkling wickedly.

"Now, Blaine, where would be the fun in that?" With that frustrating question, Sebastian hopped out of the car, thankfully slamming the door shut behind him, and made his way towards the driver's seat. Blaine let out an overdramatic groan, flopping back down onto the comfortable leather seats that were perfectly moulded into the shape of his body, luckily managing to restrain the desire to throw his hands up past his heads because that would have resulted in painful fingers and bruised knuckles, not to mention a whole load of snarky insults. "Blaine," said Sebastian as he got into the car in the front. "as much as I don't mind you lying around like that, I am going to have to ask you to at least put on a seatbelt." Blaine grumbled under his breath about Sebastian being pushy and sat up.

"We are having dinner, right?" he checked because he was beginning to feel hungry again; Sebastian ate far more than his slim figure would ever allow anyone to believe, and he didn't want to risk eating the peanut butter. Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"Blaine, are you suffering from memory loss, or did you simply ignore the lectures about eating three square meals a day that I've been giving you every year?" Blaine felt something in his face twitch at the mention of memory loss, instantly reminded of Garth, and he looked down at the divide between the front seats with sad eyes. "Blaine," said Sebastian, catching onto his hand and kissing it so that he had Blaine's attention. Blaine looked up at him with watering eyes. "I'm sorry." Blaine shrugged, but he could feel all of his well contained emotions building up inside of him. He put his free hand over his face, hastily wiping away some of the tears.

He didn't know what it was, exactly, but he could feel his sadness and guilt over Garth spiralling out of control inside of him. Garth and him had almost been a date. _Almost_. Blaine knew if that night had gone right then- then they would have- Blaine would have asked him out for real. Now this day was drawing to a close, and Blaine couldn't escape the fear that was making him want to be sick that suggested history would repeat itself. He guessed it was the attack spooking him and leaving him with a crippling sense of déjà vu, but he suddenly didn't want to leave the car. He felt safe inside the vehicle, with Sebastian right by him, and he was frightened to move off to the end.

"Hey, hey…" whispered Sebastian, twisting around in his seat so that he was facing Blaine properly. He reached over and caught Blaine's face, and Blaine allowed himself to be pulled against Sebastian's shoulder. He latched onto his boyfriend's solid form and tried very hard not to break down completely. He could feel his whole body trembling. "I'm sorry," murmured Sebastian, pressing a kiss to his cheek and loving caressing his tear-stained skin. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. We can go back, right now, if you want. You and me; we can stay in my room, and we'll be safe. I'm not leaving you, Blaine. I'm not. I _refuse_ to leave you, okay? I promise you that." Blaine squeezed his eyes shut and nodded.

"Okay," he said, clinging onto Sebastian's words with all he had. "I just- me and Garth…we were- we were at that dance _together_, and me and you we're out _together_…"

"I know," muttered Sebastian, kissing him on the cheek again, slowly raising Blaine's face so that they were looking each other in the eye. Blaine tentatively held his gaze, and Sebastian gave him one of those gentle smiles that people were only privy to when their worlds were imploding around them. "I know. I understand, remember? No words; no need to force it." He kissed him on the lips, softly, and continued to stroke his face in a soothing manner. "Do you want to go back to Dalton?" he whispered. Blaine stared at him and saw that he was fully prepared to turn his back on the date. Blaine shook his head instantly.

"No…" he muttered. "No, I want to- I want this to happen. I want my first date!" Sebastian smiled at him, grin on his face that said he believed that it was his awesomeness that made Blaine want his first date so badly as opposed of his sense of entitlement to have something good and normal.

"Those were exactly the words I wanted to hear," said Sebastian, releasing Blaine's face and giving him a big grin. "Now, are you getting in the front with me or are you going to remain back there like I am your chauffer?" Blaine weighed up the options before finding a way to smile again. Sebastian narrowed his eyes. Blaine gave him a smug smirk and lounged in the back seat, kicking Sebastian's chair.

"Chop, chop, chauffer, we haven't got all day!" Sebastian glared at him via the rear-view mirror, and Blaine simply shot him his best charming smile in return.

"Sir, I'm afraid the engine will have to remain off until you decide to obey health and safety regulations and wear a seatbelt." Blaine poked his tongue, childishly, out at Sebastian and did up the belt with a grudging expression on his face. Sebastian gave him a pleasant smile. "Just doing my job," he commented, finally starting the car and pulling out onto the road. "Now, would sir be liking any music whilst we drive?" Blaine grinned, admitting that he could probably get used to Sebastian calling him "_sir_", even if it was in a vaguely derogatory manner.

"Yes, the latest rap music, if you please." Sebastian glowered at him, screwing up his face in a manner that said he deciding whether or not to disagree with Blaine or contradict him. "Now, chauffer, not next week." Sebastian's glower darkened, and then he turned on the radio.

"The rules have now changed; driver picks the music." Blaine let out an exaggerated groan, even though he was more than partial to Sebastian's taste in music, and Sebastian shot him a satisfied look as he flicked around the stations.

"But I wanted to rap!" he said with an evident pout in his voice, folding his arms like a petulant child. Sebastian gave him a disapproving look.

"God forbid you will ever rap again," he commented. "and you have to learn the all-important rule of life; that I am in charge of absolutely everything." Blaine rolled his eyes and scowled at him.

"You are _not_ in charge of absolutely everything!" he exclaimed, and Blaine knew that was so not the right thing to say because all that would follow would be an argument about whether or not Sebastian was in charge of everything, which Sebastian would undoubtedly win, and Blaine would feel stupid and flustered and annoyed and completely in love…

And that was precisely what happened in the entire drive to whichever restaurant Sebastian had plans on taking him to. They didn't stay exactly on topic; meandering around whether people would worship Sebastian because they thought he was amazing or because they were afraid of him when he was ruler of the world, but the same train of thought ran through all of their arguments. It was kind of frustrating for Blaine; like banging his head repeatedly into a brick wall without him sustaining any damage so that he would collapse and give up, but it was also kind of fun. _Kind of_… Blaine was fully prepared to admit that he was probably insane for that.

Looking out of the window, Blaine saw that they were pulling into the parking lot of the mall at Westerville. Blaine didn't really know any of the restaurants that well – when they went bowling there, or occasionally shopping or the cinema, they tended to always eat at the pizza place that was attached to the bowling alley – and so he was interested as to where Sebastian was taking him. He shot Sebastian a curious look, but Sebastian just gave him a flat look that said if Sebastian had withheld the information for that long did he really think he would tell Blaine _now_ when they were almost there.

"_Please_," begged Blaine in a half-hearted manner. Sebastian simply arched an eyebrow in disapproval of Blaine's behaviour and got out of the car. Blaine sighed heavily and unclipped his seatbelt. Sebastian opened the door, eyebrow still arched.

"Blaine, are you going to get out of the car?" Blaine rolled his eyes and got out of the car, shivering a little bit in the cold air. Sebastian rolled his eyes and opened the boot of the car and pulled out a jacket that he seemed to have been carrying around for that exact purpose. Blaine grinned up at his boyfriend a little shyly as Sebastian slipped it onto his shoulders. "Well at least you're out of the car," he commented, slipping an arm around his shoulders.

"Is the food good?" he asked, eventually, as they made their way towards the stairs up into the shopping centre. Sebastian shrugged in a casual manner with the arm that wasn't looped around Blaine's shoulders.

"I guess…" he said. "I mean, we took Daley here – me, Wes and Morrison – when we were trying to "_reacclimatise_" him to the outside world, but we were more focused on _people_ than food, and Daley not freaking out and doing himself serious damage." Blaine nodded, biting down on the inside of his lip because that had killed the mood completely.

"Right…" Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"I know, not the most romantic of places, but I don't exactly know any "_romantic_" places at all, and I am not asking Wes because, well, I'm just _not_. It's, like, a marginally better idea compared to asking _Nick_ for help on this. I mean, it's not like we even visited that many places in the first place because you would _not_ believe the amount of places that…that _fucking __**Thomas**_ took him to, but this was the best of the three places that we visited." Blaine nodded in understanding, feeling uncomfortable at the mention of Thomas like he always did. "And there goes the mood again," he said, shrugging and arching an eyebrow apologetically. Blaine gave him a small smile.

"That's okay. I mean, obviously not- but it's okay about the mood." Sebastian rolled his eyes and towed him towards a Chinese restaurant that he vaguely recognised and suspected that this was the place that Jeff and Cat often went to. "Oh, Jeff talks about this place." Sebastian nodded.

"Yes, Morrison said that Jeff recommended the place to him for his and Lottie's first date or something." Blaine nodded as Sebastian opened the door, holding it open so that Blaine could walk in first, and then walked over to the Latino waitress. "Good evening, ma'am," he said in his oh-so-charming voice. "table for two in the name of Smythe." Blaine tucked his hand into Sebastian's as the waitress nodded and led them into the restaurant. Sebastian squeezed his hand reassuringly, looking back at him to question once more whether Blaine was okay to be there. Blaine nodded. He _wanted_ to be there. He didn't think that anything else should matter.

They both sat down at their table and accepted their menus with gracious smiles. Blaine opened it, scanning the Chinese characters and their English translation, and reckoned that he would probably go for lemon chicken and egg fried rice like he always did – he'd gone off noodles when Cooper had mocked him mercilessly for not being able to eat them with chopsticks; Blaine had cried for almost half an hour when Cooper had convinced him he'd never play piano or guitar well if he couldn't use chopsticks properly. His dad had been _really_ pissed off about that because it had been the first meal they'd had out with Emily when she and his dad had gotten serious. He'd thought she'd dump him for having cissies for sons, but, instead, Emily had taken Blaine up in her arms and told him that Cooper was a fool, and he could do anything he wanted…That Blaine would be amazing no matter what…

"You're reminiscing," Sebastian was looking at him with an arched eyebrow, head cocked to the side and a curious-slash-calculating expression on his face. "it's a bad memory that ended good, and it definitely had something to do with Chinese food given the way you zoned out whilst looking at the menu so I'm going for a family memory…Going by the transition of emotions, I'd say post your mum leaving, but pre the coming out…care to share?" Blaine let out a small sigh and shrugged a little bit.

"Um, from when we first met Emily; I think it was the first meal out we had as a group – me, dad, Cooper and Emily – and Cooper made fun of me for not being able to use chopsticks with noodles…he really wound me up, and I was crying for ages, but Emily made me feel better." Sebastian sat back in his seat with a nod.

"Yeah, well, your step-mum is by far the most sensible person in your family. I would say the nicest, but that doesn't exactly include your little sisters, and I think they and you would be offended if I did that." Blaine snorted a little at that, smiling and rolling his eyes.

"Yep, they really would be as well." Sebastian winked at him, flicking through the menu and occasionally shooting Blaine looks as if he was wondering whether Blaine would disappear or freak out at any moment. Blaine tried to give him a reassuring smile, but he wasn't very good at using them on Sebastian and he knew that Sebastian could see through them so it only weakened his efforts.

They ordered relatively quickly, and the food came even faster, and though the conversation flow wasn't exactly easy, they muddled their way through the evening without too many awkward silences. There were a lot of silences, sure, but most of them weren't awkward because they were speaking through their facial expressions, and Blaine was either being patronised or having to fight his laughter. When the silence did get awkward, Sebastian would always have some form of witticism – usually about one of the other diners or the workers – that he could throw out and have Blaine in hysterics. Blaine even stopped feeling nervous after an hour because nothing bad could possibly happen to them. He had Sebastian by his side (well, technically opposite him) and that kind of made everything else irrelevant.

Talk about the perfect _Start of Something Good_…

* * *

"…and he totally trashed me in every game, but he was such a good winner compared to Nick that it didn't really feel like I'd lost. Then we had dinner, but it wasn't anything posh; just pizza in one of those cheerful, fake-Italian places, but it was still good fun. He told me all about his family – the stuff he hadn't already told me – and we just, sort of, talked…It was so much easier than I thought it would be!" Kurt smiled fondly at Flint as he finished regaling them with the tale of his first date. Flint was scarlet in the face, but Kurt could tell that the flush was just made from the residual excitement of it all.

"And you were okay?" double checked Blaine, who was watching Flint closely. Flint nodded, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, we had no problems with anyone being…you know…" Kurt nodded instantly whilst Blaine rolled his eyes slightly because he had told them the story of his break down and deflated a little bit.

"That's not what I meant. I mean were _you_ okay? You know with panic attacks and stuff." Blaine pursed his lips together in concern as Flint broke eye contact with them. He caught the sideways glance from Kurt that asked what they should do, and Blaine sent him a look to stand back whilst Blaine dealt with it as he shuffled across the floor of his room to be closer to Flint's side. He gently put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Flint," he said calmly. "you know how this is; I – _we_ – don't judge you." Flint sighed and met his eyes.

"I had four," he admitted. "I don't know why, but I did, and I didn't have my inhaler, and Dylan flipped out about me possibly dying…" he trailed off, looking up at Blaine with a pained expression. Blaine closed his eyes and sat back on his heels. Kurt looked between them for a second, or two, before clearing his throat so that their attention snapped back at him.

"Can I ask what's going?" he said with an arched eyebrow. Blaine and Flint sighed as one. Flint closed his eyes and sucked in a huge breath before focusing back to on Kurt.

"My parents go on about the fact that I don't have an inhaler on me because my mum might not want me alive, but she doesn't want me _dead_, and I would be an everlasting disgrace to the Wilson family if I died of an asthma attack and not a gunshot wound." There was a moment of silence in which Kurt fought hard to keep complete and utmost disgust from riddling his face, Blaine ran a hand over his eyes and shook his head and Flint directed an angry glare onto the floor.

"Come on," said Blaine eventually. "this is a fun occasion when we share the tales of our first dates; we had great days so let's try not to ruin it. For once, I suggest taking a leaf out of Nick and Trinity's book and keep reality at bay for tonight." The other two boys glanced at each other before nodding.

"Yeah," echoed Flint in a tone of voice that told both of the other boys that he was exhausted of thinking about his family and all of the negative feelings they brought.

"So, you and Sebastian," and it was really a testimony to – a – how much he wanted to change the subject and – b – given up on Blaine that Kurt wanted to know if Blaine and Sebastian's relationship had improved. "things got less awkward, do you think that'll be permanent?" Blaine shrugged.

"I hope so. I mean, Sebastian was right: how much we talk isn't a comment on our relationship because Sebastian learnt basically everything about me, and he can read me so well it's scary…" Blaine broke off at that, trying to shove his dad's threat, and the terror of Holt and Kinzie, from his mind. Kurt frowned.

"But what about the other way round?" he asked as Flint shifted so that he could look at Blaine face on. Blaine sighed and shrugged.

"Reading Sebastian is really hard; I'm not really sure anyone could ever do it, and he's actually a really private person so…" he shrugged once more. "I guess I just learnt that you can only change someone so much: small talk never has, and never will be, Sebastian sees the point of, but I also guess things between him and me are just different to your guys' relationships." Kurt frowned and looked over at Flint, asking if he'd gotten that. Flint frowned for a moment before nodding.

"Me and you, Kurt," he said, angling himself towards Kurt. "are still getting to know our boyfriends, but Blaine and Sebastian have known each other really well for several _years_. I think Blaine's saying that he shouldn't compare his relationship to anyone to else's because it's just different." Kurt nodded in understand as Blaine gave him a wry grin.

"Sorry, it didn't come out like that; two different things got muddled together in my head." Kurt snorted at that, rolling his eyes, as Flint let out a chuckle.

"Am I the only person that feels like today is a crazy dream: we all have boyfriends, we all went on dates…David and Wes fought because David did something _wrong_ to do with _Warblers_…" Blaine and Kurt burst out laughing at Flint's words, Flint joining in a second later. Kurt didn't know why they were laughing so hard – it really hadn't been that funny – but he guessed that they were all still on a high from the events of today, and after all that they'd suffered because of their sexuality, it did seem like a dream. It was kind of sad that it was dreamlike that the three of them had gone out on dates, been completely fine and then were able to sit around and talk freely about it…

The door opened a moment as they continued to laugh, and Thad stepped into the room. The three of them, all failing in their attempts to stop their laughter, looked over at him, and Kurt noticed he was smartly dressed in the way that he had been on Kurt's first night at Dalton when Thad had found him locked out of the school. The rather tired looking boy's eyes flickered around the room for a moment before his face adopted a rather horrified look, and he pelted out of the room and down the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him. Kurt stared at the empty doorway with wide eyes, turning back to the others and suppressing his desire to laugh as hard as he could. However, seeing the others' amused expressions caused his self-restraint to burst, and the three of them began to roar with laughter.

"My God!" exclaimed Flint after a little while, wiping tears away from his eyes. "He is _hilarious_!" Blaine shook his head, pressing a hand against his forehead, and Kurt simply snorted again. "His idea of what is horrifying are _seriously_ screwed up!" Blaine snorted once more, rolling his eyes, and Kurt looked back towards the open doorway.

"Why was he dressed like that?" he asked, cautiously, guessing this was probably something he _could_ get an answer to. Flint glanced at Blaine, who straightened his face and shrugged.

"He works in a posh restaurant somewhere in Westerville," he said, simply. Kurt nodded, small frown creasing his forehead, and Blaine gave him an amused smile. "He never said exactly why he got the job, but we think…well, he's never really had much money in his life. I mean, either Nick and his family pay for stuff, or his mum does. I know he doesn't like the idea of leeching off Nick, and, well, given where his mum's money comes from it's not that surprising that he wants some of his own." Kurt nodded in understanding, completely able to see where Blaine was coming from.

"And there goes the mood for the rest of the evening," commented Flint, and Blaine turned a glare on him.

"No! Die you pessimist!" With that roar, Blaine leapt at Flint, sending the two of them sprawling backwards onto the floor. Flint let out a muffled cry, and Kurt burst out laughing, hand flying to cover his face as his entire body shook from laughter.

* * *

Kurt felt his phone vibrate against his leg as he listened to Dr Booth drone on about something to do with organic chemistry that they were apparently recapping but was new to Kurt. Flint jumped by his side, and the two of them slipped their phones from their pockets as one, both knowing what the message would say.

_Senior Commons; one minute; the countdown has begun – last to arrive gets decapitated- Wes. _

Kurt snorted and rolled his eyes, jumping up off his stool. Flint hurried to his feet, a second behind Kurt as they both gathered together their books and stationary. Dr Booth had trailed off midsentence, seemingly taken aback by the disturbance in his class. The other boys straightened up.

"Countdown has started, sir," said Flint, swinging his bag onto his shoulder, and the other students leapt to their feet as the head of Harriot rolled his eyes and walked over to his seat, clearly preparing himself for a nice break from teaching. Flint caught Kurt's elbow and guided him out of the classroom first.

Kurt could feel anticipation building inside of him as he and Flint made their way through the crowds of Dalton boys that were eagerly spilling out of their classrooms. They parted for the two Warblers, shouting words of encouragement and patting them on the back as they made their way to the stairs and hurried down to the ground floor. There was such an incredible buzz from all the boys at the prospect of this performance, and Kurt found that if lifted him so much. He wasn't doing a solo like he'd wanted to, but at the same time he didn't mind as much anymore. This was clearly a completely different kind of performance than the one he'd given with the Warblers at the concert, and he had to admit that he was kind of glad that his first one of these was in safe hands. The idea of messing up in front of all the excited Dalton boys was a prospect that even Kurt, who had nerves of steel and understood that so much of performing was about taking risks, would baulk at. Still, Sebastian and Blaine were nothing if not experienced, and this would be flawless; he felt sure of that.

He and Flint hurried into the Senior Commons, that was already half filled by excited Dalton boys, and walked leisurely over to the rest of the Warblers when they both realised that they weren't the last people there. Kurt grinned at Trent, who was bouncing on the balls of his feet, as he slipped off his shoulder bag and leant it against the wall.

"Looking forward to it?" asked Flint, and Trent nodded, raising a hand to start chewing on his nails. Kurt reached over to slap it away, giving him a parent-ish stare that made several of the other boys around them crack up.

"Yeah," he muttered, a little breathlessly. "I could barely sleep. I just- I can't believe that I'm performing!" Kurt gave him a kindly smile reaching over to pat his shoulder in an understanding manner.

"Speaking of that," said Wes, sliding over to them with a rather sleep-deprived looking Sebastian by his side. "there's something that we want to give you." Trent frowned, looking a little bit nervous, but Wes' easy smile assured him a little bit. "Now, technically, we're not really meant to do this, but our own rules have kind of tied us up in knots, but basically…You need a crest to perform a lead or solo, and we would _really_ like you to consider going for that, so…" Sebastian slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out the little box that would contain Trent's crest. Trent's went wide.

"You want _me_ to sing solo?" he demanded in shock, eyes incredibly as he looked around at all the grinning Warblers in shock.

"We'd like you to give it some _serious_ thought," said Wes. Trent looked like he'd been struck speechless, and Kurt tried to keep up the supportive smile on his face even though his insides were throwing a hissy fit.

**_Another_** _soloist? I thought there wasn't much competition in the Warblers; just Sebastian and Blaine to beat, but now…My god! What am I going to do? I thought I was almost a dead cert to get a solo with them, but now I can really see myself being resigned to back-up once more._

"Um, of course, I'll think about it," choked out Wes, and the Warblers that were clustered around him let out a short whoop as Trent took his crest from Sebastian, followed by the pin boxes. Kurt found his bright smile again as Trent looked at him and leant forward to immediately congratulate him;

"You really deserve this," he said, and Trent looked down at the crest box with a torn expression.

"I don't know. I mean, shouldn't you be a soloist or something? Your voice is amazing, and I'm just the kid…I don't even know how this school works." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"You _do_ deserve it," broke in Flint in a very calm and convincing tone of voice. "and it'll be some time until we perform again so just think about it, okay?" Trent nodded as Blaine came bounding into the common room. Kurt watched as Wes drew a hand across his neck, to which Blaine rolled his eyes, and all of the Warblers fell into place. He grinned down at Tyler as Blaine dumped his bag, and he caught the flick of Wes' wrist that cued their harmonies.

The upbeat note to their voices seemed to smack a real smile onto everyone's faces. Most of the boys were already bobbing up and down and dancing around. Kurt looked around at the other Warblers as they moved together in easy synchrony, and whenever he met someone's eyes, the smile on his face seemed to get wider. The Warblers didn't really have show-smiles, or at least not in front of the rest of their school. This performance wasn't just about testing their voices and showcasing their talent; this was fun for absolutely everybody.

_Life's like a road that you travel on_

_When there's one day here and the next day gone_

Blaine, who had been dancing around in the empty space before the Warblers with a seriously cocky grin on his face, spun around so that he was facing most of the student as he sang, dancing with his wonderful grace and ease.

_Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand_

_Sometimes you turn your back to the wind_

_There's a world outside ev'ry darkened door_

_Where blues won't haunt you anymore_

_Where the brave are free and lovers soar_

_Come ride with me to the distant shore_

Blaine could feel the beat behind him lifting him, putting a skip in his step and making every single one of his crap dance moves, which were the meant to illustrate the lyrics but probably didn't really, absolutely awesome. He could feel his own words coming true – the blues were flying away from him; music cleaning his soul and opening him up to pure joy – and he could feel that fragile, but perfect, connection with everyone in the room that could only be made through song.

_We won't hesitate_

_To break down the garden gate_

Sebastian came dancing smoothly out from the main pack of Warblers, his smirk that was so charming and flattering serving to take away the heaviness from his face.

_There's not much time left today_

_Life is a highway_

_I wanna ride it all night long_

_If you're going my way_

_I wanna drive it all night long_

And it didn't matter that, whilst they belted out the first chorus, Blaine was bopping around like a fool whilst Sebastian pulled out his ultra-slick – _seriously_ sexy – dance moves because Blaine couldn't care about what other people thought of him whilst he sang.

_Through all these cities and all these towns_

_It's in my blood and it's all around_

Sebastian moved forward as he took the next verse, Blaine falling back so that he was settled between Wes and David at the front of the Warblers, who were dancing – or perhaps skipping would be a better word – side to side like normal.

_I love you now like I loved you then_

_This is the road and these are the hands_

He went straight up to Daley, who was standing between Morrison and Cam, and unashamedly sang right to him, a stupid grin that he had to have learnt from Blaine on his face, using the cheerful song to deliver the all-important message to Daley.

_From Mozambique to those Memphis nights_

_The Khyber Pass to Vancouver's lights_

_Knock me down get back up again_

_You're in my blood_

_I'm not a lonely man_

Sebastian pointed dramatically at his friend as he fell back towards the Warblers, hips swaying hypnotically, and Daley threw his hands up over his face in embarrassment, but he was also clearly laughing hysterically, just like Sebastian had planned.

_There's no load I can't hold_

_Road so rough this I know_

_I'll be there when the light comes in_

Blaine danced back out so that he was in front of the Warblers at the same level as Sebastian, but on the other side of their performing space. He took in all of his friends' grinning faces and felt that incredibly feeling that he only ever got at Dalton – that feeling that everybody was on his side for once.

_Just tell 'em we're survivors_

He slapped his right fist against his heart so that his arm was crossed over his chest and thrust his left arm into the air, the hand of that loosely curled into a fist but with his index finger pointing towards the ceiling.

_Life is a highway_

_I wanna ride it all night long…_

Kurt looked around and met Juri's eyes. He had to stifle a laugh at the sight of his little Russian roommate jumping up and down and being grabbed onto by Chris to stop him from accidentally punching someone. Dylan stood over his shoulder, looming above him in a manner that was ridiculous, and from his awestruck expression – slack face, wide eyes, mouth agape – Flint was probably looking very hot in this second. Drew, Fred and Morrison were also dancing around together, waving their arms in the air. Cameron was also bouncing around with Braden and Pedro and some other Freshman, and Daley was beginning to dance around too, and it was seriously weird to see three celebrities rocking out and looking like they were having the time of their lives along to music of some prep school choir in _Ohio_. Scanning the crowd some more, he caught sight of Vince, Parker, Stuart and Andy moving around in that same awkward manner that they had. He winked at them as Parker raised his camera to photograph him. He snorted, looking away, and then mentally back tracking. Keats wasn't there.

_There was a distance between you and I _

Kurt frantically scanned the crowd as Sebastian began to sing another part of his solo, frown faintly forming on his forehead because _where was Keats_? Kurt couldn't see him at all. Why wasn't he there? What could possibly have kept him from coming to an event that shut the whole school down for at least ten minutes?

_A misunderstanding once  
But now we look it in the eye_

Blaine looked at Sebastian, half smiling from the corner of his mouth when their gazes locked, loving the way that their relationship could be transcribed into any and every song that they sung.

_There ain't no load that I can't hold_

_Road so rough this I know_

_I'll be there when the light comes in_

_Just tell 'em we're survivors_

And so when he reprieved his little bridge section, he chose to stare straight into Sebastian's green eyes and be perfectly assured that no matter how rough the road got from here on out, he would have Sebastian by his side. He'd survive anything as long as he had Sebastian.

_Life is a highway_

_I wanna ride it all night long_

_If you're going my way_

_I wanna drive it all night long…_

Kurt was officially laughing as he sung, sharing excited and delighted sideways glances with Tyler and any other Warbler that could catch his eye as they jumped up and down as one, clapping their hands in the hair, and began to dancing a little more freely amongst themselves. The Dalton boys were taking it as their cue to notch up the bad dancing and enthusiastic spectating, which of course was hilarious because they never did things in halves at Dalton. Things inside the mesh of Warblers kind of became quite muddled, but they were all dancing around and having fun so it didn't really matter that Kurt had ended up dancing back to back with Jeff, both of them wiggling their shoulders, completely out of position because Wes was too busy dancing around with David to notice, and Thad was at the front looking straight ahead, which was probably a good thing as he was the only one still moving loyally side to side, even though he had a very large skip in his step that meant he practically leapt a foot of the ground each time.

_If you're going my way_

_I wanna drive it all night long_

Somehow, they managed to get back into their neat rows for the last two lines, finishing with their hands clasped before them and heads down like they hadn't gone totally crazy during the song. The Dalton boys burst into huge, enthusiastic applause, roaring at the tops of their voices, whooping and clapping. The Warblers kept ranks for half a second more before they all broke out into laughter, high-fiving, hugging and clapping each other on the shoulders.

Kurt detached himself from the very hyped up Nick and Jeff and pushed himself through the Warblers towards Trent, who was scarlet faced and standing stock-still wide eyes like he couldn't quite believe that had happened. Flint was also making his way to Trent's side, and they reached him at about the same time.

"Alright there, buddy?" asked Flint, wiping away the traces of sweat from his forehead and taking some deep breaths that suggested his scarlet face was not an exaggeration as to how physically strenuous that performance had been. Trent nodded, slowly.

"Yeah, just…that was _incredible_!" he exclaimed, voice squeaking a little bit at the end. "I mean, I've performed in school plays and such before, but I have _never_ experienced anything like that! They're all so excited and- and- and it's just- they're _so_ supportive, and…" he trailed off, blinking rapidly and rubbing a hand over his face. Kurt glanced around and saw that Dylan was trying to get to Flint whilst trying to give him a chance to talk to Trent.

"Off you go and talk to your boyfriend," he said, prodding Flint in the back. Flint looked hesitant, but there was only so much of Kurt's perfectly manicured index finger jabbing into his back that he could take, and so he moved off. Kurt gave Trent a comforting smile.

"I know how you feel," he said. "I've performed before the school before, but that was in a really formal concert, but this was really something else…It's overwhelming the atmosphere here is, especially when you compare it to the frigidness of McKinley." He looked around the room and saw that Warren was sidling over. "Now off you go and enjoy." Trent gave him a weak smile before hurrying over. Kurt straightened up, rubbing his hands against his trousers, and headed towards Vince, Parker, Stuart and Andy, constantly being congratulated by the people around him.

"Nice show," commented Stuart, pushing up his glasses with a tiny smile on his face. "very energetic." Kurt smiled at him, taking the compliment with a gracious nod of the head.

"Where's Keats?" he asked, deciding that it was best not to beat around the bush. Three pairs of eyes leapt up to Vince. Vince ran a hand through his hair before shrugging.

"Last time there was an impromptu it was maybe a two-three weeks before we met you, and to say that it was a highly flirtatious duet between Sebastian and Blaine would be a gross understatement. He decided that it was safer to give it a miss than risk seeing something that would make him explode in a violent display of passionate anger and jealousy." Kurt pursed his lips at Vince's words, finding that they did the job that they were intended to; he could not fault Keats' choice one bit.

"Right," he said, huffing out a breath through his nose. They all cast him some sympathetic looks, and he nodded in acceptance of that fact. "I see. That's fine. I just- I would have liked him to have been there of course, but-"

"Kurt," David's hand descended onto his shoulder and cut off his unnecessary ramblings. "Luc and Wes want a Warbler debrief in our hall." Kurt nodded, gave Keats' friends one last smile, before turning away with David. David glanced back over their shoulders. "Everything alright?" he asked. "Where was Keats?" Kurt sighed, shrugging.

"They said Keats didn't want to risk seeing something that would upset him, you know? With Sebastian and Blaine." David nodded in apparent understanding.

"Ah, yes of course." Kurt quirked an eyebrow at David. David rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"Look, we don't talk, but that doesn't mean we didn't…_hear_ things. Nick and Flint told us all about how he was…shouting and whatever after the impromptu last term. We were worried for Blaine, you know? We didn't want any of it kicking back off, and people getting hurt or expelled – on either side." Kurt nodded.

"Good, I suppose." David gave him another smile and clapped him on the back as they entered Warbler hall, Kurt making his way over to one of the sofas to sit by Jeff and David took a seat at the Warbler council table.

"Alright," said Wes, clapping his hands together. "let's keep this brief because we _do_ have to go back to lessons: that was good, _seriously_ good. I know it was a hard show for us all to put on, but we showed that we could perform under serious time pressure. Our vocals were solid. Our dancing got a little bit suspect by the end, but that was a spur of the moment thing so we can deal with keeping our composure at a later date. That's all I have to say, Luc?" All eyes swivelled to their red haired music director, who was leaning against one of the walls.

"I don't really have much to add. I don't do that there was some pretty freaky dancing going down, but I was only listening to you guys. Wes was right; your harmonies were good, and much more in tune than I was expecting, and your voices carried well too. Now, we're off until the soccer – _football_, I'm sorry, Blaine, stop growling at me like a dog!" Laughter rippled from around the Warblers, and Blaine sat back with a charming smile. "We're off till the soccer game, but I expect your performance level to remain constant. I don't want any dipping, or you'll have hell to pay from me." There was a moment of silence in which everyone considered what torture Luc may subject them to. "Now, why don't you go and skip off back to your lessons?"

"_Hey_!" exclaimed Wes, brandishing the gavel. "Don't you _dare_ undermine my authori- _fuck_!" Every person in the room descended into hysterics as Wes accidentally let go of the gavel and banged himself in the face. Kurt slumped against the sofa, hand over his face, laughing hysterically.

_I'm going to miss the Warblers during our break. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm thankful that we're having it because Met is going __**seriously**__crazy over Regionals, and I do not need to risk losing my voice or collapsing from exhaustion, but Warblers is something else…I mean, we must be the only club in which we're run by a council and an overseeing director, and they're __**all**__ insane! I cannot wait for this to be back._

* * *

**Next Time- Goal: The maddest time of sports fixtures has descended upon Dalton Academy, but when clashes and an enemy of different kinds enter the field of play, their hopes of sweeping victories across the board begins to look less like a reality and more like a dream… **


End file.
